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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. David Rowland," <usuario>
Reply-To: mrdav_rowland001@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2017 02:24:11 +0100
Subject: RE: CAN I CONFIDE IN YOU?


Natwest Bank Plc PO Box 10720217 Strand London WC2R 1AP Good Day, I am Davi=
d Rowland, an investment consultant working with Natwest Bank Plc London at=
their offshore department. I will be happy to work this deal out with you =
if you have a corporate or personal Bank Account and if you are capable to =
keep TOP SECRET. I need strong Assurance that you will never let me down, i=
f I transfer this money to your account. During one of our periodic auditin=
g I discovered a dormant accounts with holding balance of (=A342.759M GBP) =
{Forty Two Million seven hundred and fifty Nine Thousand Great British Poun=
ds only} Sometimes a person will open a bank account, deposit money, and th=
en disappear into the tin air. Banks are not always able to find out what h=
as become of these silent customers, or to know whether they should follow =
up on requests from people who claim to be heirs to the accounts. The main =
problem is that the customer resides abroad and, due to bank secrecy, the b=
ank cannot publish notices in the international press to locate the deposit=
ories. This has led the majority of British banks to refrain from opening s=
mall-deposit accounts for foreign customers; for fear that they will forget=
that the account exists. It has happened in the past, however, that custom=
ers pass away and their heirs can neither prove the death, nor their heir s=
hip. This was a frequent occurrence during the wartime periods, and the ban=
ks have now set up a simple, rapid resolution procedure operating to their =
customers' advantage. Dormant assets are defined as any assets deposited wi=
th a bank (i.e. an account, a custody account or a safety-deposit box) for =
which there has been no contact with the customer in the bank's files for t=
he last ten years or more. I am constrained to issue more details about thi=
s business until your response is received. If you know that you are capabl=
e to handle large or small amount on trust and can keep secret and ready to=
take 45% of any amount I transfer to your account from the dormant account=
and I will take 55%, send your account information's by return mail. Tell =
me more about yourself, while I look forward to receive the above informati=
on. I want to re-assure you that this business is risk free and you can sen=
d an empty account to receive the funds, provided that the account is capab=
le to receive incoming funds. Look forward to discuss this opportunity furt=
her with you in detail. Please email me back on this mail address: > Or pro=
vide me with your phone number for discussion of this transaction in furthe=
r details. Thank you for your time and attention. Regards, Mr.David Rowland

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