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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. Bright Nana Addo" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrbrightaddo11@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:29:50 +0800
Subject: Greetings to you my good friend.

The Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Ltd.

My Dear Friend,

It is indeed my pleasure to write you this letter, which I believe will be a surprise to you as we have never met before, and I am deeply sorry if I have in any manner disturbed your privacy. Please forgive this unusual manner of contacting you, but this particular letter is of exceptional and very private nature.

There is absolutely going to be a great doubt and distrust in your heart in respect of this email, coupled with the fact that, so many individuals have taken possession of the Internet to facilitate their nefarious deeds, thereby making it extremely difficult for genuine and legitimate business class persons to get attention and recognition. There is no way for me to know whether I will be properly understood, but it is my duty to write and reach out to you.

My name is Mr. Bright N. Addo. I work with the Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Ltd as the Regional Manager, Ho Branch, in the Volta Region of Ghana in West Africa, i am a Christian.

I do not want problems but i just hope you can assist me, i write you this letter in good faith, i have a transaction of Five million six hundred and twenty thousand United States dollars ($5,620,000.00). I realized this fund from my bank excess profit after trading with the capital sum and I deposited the funds in escrow call account, where nobody will have access to it, even the bank does not have access to this account because it cannot be deducted, until after the transfer.

Meanwhile as you know I can not be directly connected to this money for obvious reasons. So my contacting you is to assist me receive the funds in your bank account in your country, which I know is possible if you liaise properly with me and get 30% of the total funds as your benefit. The transfer would be made via swift and it will be a Bank-to-Bank wired transfer.

All I need is for you to get a good current account where this fund can be transferred into, and for you to stand to claim as the original depositor of this fund. Within four working days the funds will be transferred to your designated bank account.

I will computer your particulars as the person who made the deposit in my branch, so that my head office will immediately order the transfer to your designated bank account. E-mail me if you think we can work together.

Please indicate your interest in coming into partnership with me by providing me with your full information below:

FULL NAME...................................

ADDRESS.....................................

AGE.........................................

SEX.........................................

OCCUPATION..................................

MARITAL STATUS..............................

TELEPHONE/FAX NUMBER........................

Thanks for your understanding and co-operation.

Let me hear from you soonest,

Mr. Bright N. Addo.

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