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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: "Bill Betterman" <bb.betterman@webs.com>
Reply-To: "Bill Betterman" <bbetterman0@gmail.com>
Date: 8 Sep 2021 20:25:43 +0200
Subject: Awaiting your response asap.

Dear Friend,

As you very well know, Afghanistan is in turmoil from the Talibans. I am Bill Betterman
from the hospitality state (Mississippi), an army contractor attached to the US Military
force for the sole purpose of Reconstruction works in some parts of Afghanistan just
before the Talibans struck. I evaluate the level of destruction and offer professional
advice inline with the way they intend rebuilding. With no doubt, work has been risky and
challenging as we sometimes collide head on with armed insurgents and loose some soldiers
during confrontations.

On the early hours of 15th August 2021 I lost a friend whom I had known for 12years during
one of these confrontations. It was a very sad day but at about 1100hrs during a normal
inspection routine along Haifa Street, built and occupied by Burhanuddin Rabbani while he
was still alive and one of the hide outs of the Talibans and Ayman al-Zawahiri forces. I,
along side with 2 soldiers proceeded to a marked site and as I commenced evaluation under
close guard by the 2 soldiers, I discovered an unusual bulge in a cellar, which I presumed
to be storage room and as I proceeded to have a closer look at it, I kicked a metal
covering and found several metal boxes (6 in number) Piled on top of each other and locked
with a padlock. On forcing the boxes open, we discovered several armored weapons including
bullets. One of the boxes was filled with hard drugs (heroine) and two to my amazement was
filled with money. On discovery of this money, I and the soldiers for hours counted
bundles of the currencies which amounted to about $5.5M. I believe however that all these
belongs to the Talibans and Ayman al-Zawahiri forces, and because of this reason, I
instructed the soldiers with me to handover all the boxes containing the drugs and amours
to our superiors in the US army and agreed to keep the funds to ourselves, so as to help
establish ourselves when we return from Afghanistan. Presently, we have the money hidden
in a safe and untraceable location only known to us.

Why I am explaining all our findings to you is to seek for your assistance and immense
contribution to the actualization of our dream of getting these funds out from here. We
are in desperate need of a reliable and trustworthy person who will receive, secure and
protect these boxes containing the money for us until our assignment ends here. Since
Afghanistan is getting unsafe and more dangerous everyday even with some US army
departing, we cannot afford to leave these boxes here in Afghanistan for any reason and
knowing fully well that these were funds used in sponsoring terrorist attacks on our
innocent humans. We have no idea what could happen next. This is a true story of what we
came across here in Afghanistan. I intend to include some pictures I took here and my ID's
issued by the US army and government for you to know better whom you are dealing with but
I will include that in my next email to you. I assure and promise to give you 10% of this
funds before sharing with the other 2 soldiers when we leave this place. Please assure me
of your keeping this top most secret so that my job would not be jeopardized.

My Sincere Regards,
Bill Betterman.

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