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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: "Dr. Mark George Culmer" <dr.markgeorgeculmer@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2021 09:22:50 +0100
Subject: How are you doing today?

Dear Sir / Madam,

I'm writing to seek your partnership in a transaction business. In
case you receive this massage in spam maybe connection error, My name
is Dr. Mark George Culmer, an investment consultant working with
Barclays Bank London at the offshore department London United Kingdom.
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 account with holding balance of US$332,000.000.00
{Three 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 most British 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 passed 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 customer’s 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 bank’s files for
the last ten years or more. If you believe you have claim to a British
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 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 British Dormant
Accounts and profile, please take a moment of your busy schedules to
read about 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%.
Let me know if you are willing and ready to partner with me than reply
me back so i can tell you the details and how to conclude this
business.

Warmest regards,
Dr. Mark George Culmer

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