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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: KATE BARON <obii62108@gmail.com>
Reply-To: katebaronlawsfirm@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2022 10:58:27 +0100
Subject: PLEASE I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE

Dear Friend,

I am Kate Baron, the personal attorney to Robert Fitzpatrick, an
American who was a consultant with Shell UK LTD here in London, who
shall be referred to as my client. Unfortunately my client lost his
life on Boeing Egypt Air Flight 990, which crashed into the Atlantic
Ocean on October 31st, 1999 and left no clear beneficiary as Next of
Kin except some vital documents related to the deposit still with me.

All efforts by me to trace his Next of Kin 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 sum was deposited. Particularly, the
finance company where the deceased had the said fund valued at USD 11
Million dollars 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 bonafide
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
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. Please get back to me if you are ready to assist me.


Barr. Kate Baron.

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