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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: Elaina Farrell <dooyumpaul10@gmail.com>
Reply-To: barrelaiinefarrell@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2022 14:27:23 -0700
Subject: I NEED YOUR URGENT ASSISTANCE

Sir/Madam.

My name is Elaina Farrell, I am the personal attorney to Steven
Vandersande, a Netherlands who was a consultant with Shell UK LTD here in
London, who hereinafter shall be referred to as my client. Unfortunately My
Client lost his life in a plane crash MH17 on the 17th July, 2014 during
one of his trip from Netherlands (Amsterdam) to Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and
my client left no clear beneficiary to the fund deposited with a Security
Company as Next of Kin except some vital documents related to the deposit
that is still with me.

All efforts by me to trace his Next of Kin and relatives have proved
abortive because he did not make any will prior to his death. Since then I
have made several inquiries to locate any of my late clients' extended
relatives and this has proved unsuccessful. After my several unsuccessful
attempts to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you.

I am contacting you to assist in claiming the money left behind by my
client before they get confiscated or declared unclaimed by the security
company where this huge deposit was deposited. Particularly, the Finance
Company where He had the said fund valued at US$11,500,000.00 (Fifteen
Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars Only) deposited has
issued me a notice to provide the next of kin. Consequent upon this, my
idea is that we can have a deal/agreement and I am going to do this legally
with your name as the true beneficiary of the amount in question as I have
all legal document to back our claim, I seek your consent to present you as
the next of kin to the deceased so that the proceeds of this account valued
at $11,500,000.00 Million US dollars can be paid to your account abroad,
note that 40% of this money will be for you, in respect to the provision of
a foreign account and 50% for me, 10% will be used for the reimbursement of
any expenditure we may incur in the cause of the transaction.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that
will protect you from any breach of the law; all I need from you is your
utmost collaboration and sincerity for us to thrive in this deal. I want
you to reply to me immediately and include your direct phone number so that
we can discuss more as regards to this transaction. Thank you and Please
treat this matter with utmost confidentiality. I await your urgent response.

Elaina Farrell Esq.

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