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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: "Mr. Richard Paul" <mrprivatemrprivate2000@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrprivatemrprivate20120@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2023 19:21:17 -0700
Subject: Yours Faithfully

FROM THE DESK OF MR RICHARD PAUL,
AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING MANAGER,
BANK OF AFRICAN B.O.A
COTONOU REPUBLIC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
Email:mrprivatemrprivate20120@gmail.com

Dear Friend,

TREAT AS URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL.

I am the manager of auditing and accounting at the foreign remittance
department of BANK OF AFRICAN) here in Cotonou, Benin Republic. In my
department we discovered an abandoned sum of US$5.350m dollars (FIVE
MILLION, THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND US DOLLARS). in an account
that belongs to one of our foreign customer (MR. ANDREAS SCHRANNER
from Munich, Germany) who died along with his entire family in July
2000 in a plane crash.

Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his
next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release
it unless some body applies for it as next of kin or relation to the
deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines and laws but
unfortunately we learn t that all his supposed next of kin or relation
died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for
the claim.

It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this
business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of
kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement
since nobody is coming for it and we don't want this money to go into
the bank treasury as unclaimed bill, the money will be transferred
into the bank treasury as unclaimed fund. The request of foreigner as
next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the
customer was a foreigner and a Benin-be cannot stand as next of kin to
a foreigner.

I agree that 30% of this money will be for you as a respect to the
provision of a foreign account ,10% will be set aside for expenses
incurred during the business and 60% would be for me Thereafter, I
will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentage
indicated Therefore, to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to
you arranged,you must apply first to the bank as relation or next of
kin of the deceased with a text of application that i will send to
you,so i will like you to send to me your private telephone and fax
number for easy and effective communication and location where in the
money will be remitted.Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you
by fax or email the text of the application.

I will not fail to bring to your notice, this transaction is
hitch-free and that you should not entertain any atom of fear as all
required arrangements have been made for the transfer. You should
contact me immediately as soon as you received this letter.

Trusting to hear from you immediately.
Yours Faithfully,
Email:mrprivatemrprivate20120@gmail.com
1. Full Name
2. Your Telephone Number and Fax Number
3. Your Contact Address.
Mr. Richard Paul.

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