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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: "Mrs. Caroline" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <carolinefreund@indamail.hu>
Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2018 14:33:50 -0700
Subject: Awaiting your reply on my below email

Hello!
 
I am sure this mail would be coming to you as a surprise since we have never met before and you would also be asking why I have decided to chose you amongst the numerous internet users in the world. I saw your profile on the Internet, which has made me accomplish my request.
 
I am Mrs. Caroline Freund, the bill and exchange manager of Cahoot Finance UK. In my department, I discovered an abandoned sum of USD 8,000,000.00. (Eight Million USD), on account of our foreign customers (MR Paul Louis Halley) who died along with his wife in 2003 in a plane crash.
 
This dead client late Paul Louis Halley has the sum of $ 8,000,000.00 in his bank account with my bank since 2003 until today.
 
After going through the late Paul Louis Halley file in the bank, I discovered that he did not have next of kin or the account beneficiary in his account opening documents.
 
Therefore I now sincerely and consciously seek your consent to present your data as the next of kin / Will Beneficiary to the deceased so that the total value of $ 8,000,000 will be transferred to you, which will be shared with this percentage ratio of 60 % to me and 40% to you.
 
According to our Banking Act of 1990, if the money is unclaimed after a period of Fourteen (14) years, it will be a government property. Therefore, I have planned to upload your data in our banking system as a Next of Kin of the late Mr. Halley because I have tried my best to locate any of his family members but all such efforts were not successful.
 
I check this account for over 7-8 years and no one has ever come forward to claim the fund. But I've found that (Late Mr. Paul Louis Halley) has no next of kin or the account beneficiary before he died. So, after going through his file in our bank. I sincerely and consciously seek your consent to present your data as the next of kin / Will Beneficiary to this account, so that the total value of USD 8,000,000.00, would be transferred to any bank account of your choice for our mutual benefit. I'm going to share the money in the ratio of 60% to me and 40% to you.
 
For more information; I want you to please contact me as soon as possible by your reply to my e-mail.
 
When you contact me, I will give you more information.
 
Greetings.
Mrs. Caroline

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