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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: Mr Koffi Adams <mr_koffiadams2@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: <mr_koffiadams2007@yahoo.com.au>
Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2007 22:26:15 +0000
Subject: Urgent Parthnership.



FROM MR KOFFI ADAMS.AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT.FOREIGN OPERATIONS DEPARTMENTUNION TOGOLAISE DE BANQUE, LOME-TOGO.My Dear Friend,I
am Mr Koffi Adams the head of auditing and accounting section of Union
Togolaise De Banque Lome-Togo in West Africa with due respect and
regard.I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that
will be very beneficial to both of us at the end of the transaction . I
am writing to seek your cooperation over this transaction,after the
annual auditing of the year 2006,I discovered an abandoned sum of
(U.S$8.2M UNITED STATES DOLLARS).in an account that belongs to one of
our foreign customers who died along with his entire family in a plane
crash that took place in Kenya,East Africa,the Late DR. GEORGE
BRUMLEY,a citizen of Atlanta,United States of America.Since we got
information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to
come over and claim his funds because it cannot be released unless
somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as
indicated in our banking guidelines but unfortunately,all his supposed
next of kin or relation died along with him in the plane crash leaving
nobody behind for the claim. It's
therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business
proposal to you to make sure his balance of fund will be released to
you via your foreign bank account as the next of kin or relation to the
deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming
for it and this money could go into the Federal treasury as "unclaimed
Bill".The Banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money
remained unclaimed after five years, the money will be transfered into
the federal treasury as unclaimed fund and finally get shared among our
corrupt government officials.I think it will be better for us to put a
major part of this funds into helping people suffering from
aids,orphans,displaced persons,etc and keep some percentage,instead of
letting some dubious leaders put this funds in their personal pockets. The
request for your assistance and maximum co-operation as a foreign
citizen to stand as the next of kin in this business is occasioned by
the fact that the deceased customer was a foreigner and a TOGOLAISE
cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner. I
agree to offer you 30% of this money as my foreign partner as soon as
we conclude the transfer into your account.as soon as the money hit
your account 10% will be set aside for expences incurred during the
transfer and 30% would be for me,while we use the remaining to assist
the needy.You are to send to me the following information,if you are willing to work with me.NAME:.....ADDRESS:......OCCUPATION:.....PHONE NUMBER:...Fax..............AGE...........I
will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is strictly
confidential and i will use my position in this Bank to effect a hitch
free transfer of this fund into any of your private account. Please,
visit the website below for more information on the Plane Crash and the
tragic death DR. GEORGE BRUMLEY and his entire family. SITE:www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/07/20/kenya.crash/index.html Yours Sincerely, Mr Koffi Adams.
_________________________________________________________________
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