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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: paul gouley <paulgouley1@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2021 15:13:27 +0100
Subject: READ AND RESPOND

Hello,

I am Paul Gourley, private client manager (pcm) with Guaranty
Trust Bank. One of my late clients was a contractor to the government.
He was kidnapped and died in the hands of his adaptors in the year
2014, he is from Hong Kong.

His only son song lile was an American citizen also died in
Afghanistan in 2003 during the invasion of Afghanistan by American and
allied forces was the next of Kin of my late client during the time a
fixed deposit account was opened and the sum of $19.5million was
lodged into the account. My investigation revealed that the wife of my
client died of stroke trauma on receiving the bad news of his only
sons’ death in Afghanistan.

A dormant account for six years automatically belongs to the
government since nobody has come for it but in this case, it is
different since the fund is in a fix deposit, I have rolled over the
deposit on two occasion after the matured date but I cannot do it for
the third time except the depositor sign the termination form and
empower me again to continue the rollover. Against this backdrop, my
suggestion to you is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand as
the next of kin to my late client so that you will be able to receive
his funds.

How would this work out? I will explain to you in detail if you are
willing to work with me and what goes to you shall be negotiated.

Sincerely,
Paul Gourley.

Anti-fraud resources: