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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: "Prof. Michel Konczaty" <michel.konczaty@bnpparibas.com>
Reply-To: contact@michelkonczaty.com
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2019 08:42:38 -0400
Subject: My Last Email, I am still waiting for your response

Good Morning,

Please, I am practically aware it is not easy to trust these days with
the high level of scam, hoax and other unscrupulous elements circulating
the net but when I came across your profile you appears to me as someone
with wisdom who can be able to look beyond those element and envisage a
fruition in what I am about to share with you here which is about
someone who share your family's name. He happened to be one of the high
profile personalities I have worked with. He came to our bank to engage
in business discussions in 2003 with a financial portfolio of £20.7
which he wished to have us invest on his behalf. We turned the money
around various opportunities and made attractive margins for our first
years of operation. In mid 2005, he asked that the money be liquidated
for onward transfer. I undertook all the processes and have the fund
liquidated, and that was the last time we heard from him. I did
everything possible to track him down all to no avail. It was few years
after his surprise disappearance that I stumbled upon the Venezuela
Tuesday 16/8/2005 plane crash manifest where he died with 151 others.
Now, there is £20.7 Million abandoned in our bank and the bank want to
sit on it as unclaimed monies. What need to be done now which is why I'm
contacting you is for me to immediately from the bank data-base insert
your name into his file and make you his legal heir. Once that is done
the funds automatically become yours by inheritance, then I furnish you
with documents that will be required to legally prove your right to the
inheritance, and have the funds release to you as the legal heir for us
to share equally. There is no risk what-so-ever involved in this
profitable project because it is simply an inheritance. I have evaluated
the entire process with my vast of experience and the only hitches I
envisage here is from you, refusing to work with me, alerting my bank or
mistaking this project for a hoax or scam otherwise wealth is just
around the corner for an easy pick for you I. I await your response.


Thank You
Yours Sincerely
Prof. Michel Konczaty
Deputy Chief Operating Officer
BNP Paribas, Paris France

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