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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.

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

Fraud email example:

From: mark john <mj069785@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2018 16:02:18 +0200
Subject: urgent reply

UBS AG
Postfach 8098Z??
Zurich Switzerland
Swiss Clearing Number: 230
Postal Account: 80-2-2
SWIFT: UBSW CH ZH 80A
Web site: www.ubs.com
Dear,
I am an investment consultant working with Bank UBS AG Zurich at their
offshore department Zurich Switzerland.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,if I transfer this
money to your account.During one of our periodic auditing I discovered a
dormant accounts with holding balance of US$432,000.000.00 {Four hundred
and Thirty Two million US Dollars only}Sometimes a person will open a bank
account, deposit money, and then disappear into the tin air. Banks are not
always able to find out what has 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 bank cannot publish notices in the
international press to locate the depositaries.
This has led the majority of Swiss banks to refrain from opening
small-deposit accounts for foreign customers; for fear that they will
forget that the account exists.It has happened in the past, however, that
customers pass away and their heirs can neither prove the death, nor their
heir ship. This was a frequent occurrence during the wartime periods, and
the banks have now set up a simple, rapid resolution procedure operating to
their customers advantage.Dormant assets are defined as any assets
deposited with 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 banks files for the last ten years or more.If you believe you have
claim to a Swiss bank account for which the holder (e.g. an ancestor) has
not been in contact with the bank for over ten years, there is a fairly
simple procedure to follow, depending on the date the account was opened
this account has not been operated for the past years. As at this moment, I
am constrained to issue more details about this business until your
response is received.If you are not familiar with Swiss Dormant Accounts
and profile, please take a moment of your very busy schedules to read about
Swiss dormant accounts:website;
http://www.crt-ii.org/2001_list/publication_list1_A.phtm
If you know that you are capable to handle large or small amount on trust
and can keep secret and ready to take 40% of any amount I transfer to your
account from the dormant account and I will take 60%, send the following
information by return
Bank name...........?
Bank address..................
Account no.....................
Swift code....................
Account name.................
Beneficiary address...........
Your phone no. ...............
Your Occupation..worker................??
Age.
Tell me more about yourself, while I look forward to receive the above
information.I want to re-assure you that this business is risk free and you
can send an empty account to receive the funds, provided that the account
is capable to receive incoming funds.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Warmest regards,

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