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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: Amadas Yansaneh <aisha_hz1@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: m_amadas@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:40:41 -0800 (PST)
Subject: I look forward to hearing from you

Good day,
May the blessing of God be upon you and grant
you the wisdom and
sympathy to understand my situation and how much I need
your help.
I am Amadas Yansaneh from Sierra Leone . I am writing to express
my interest in real estate or landed properties in your country. My father died
in detention a couple of months ago while been detained by the new government.
Before his untimely death, he instructed me to leave the country for my safety
and start up a business somewhere out side
Africa. He reviewed to me of a
deposit of one diplomatic box which he concealed
with one of the private
security company here in Dakar containing US$5.5M
(Five million, five hundred
thousand united states dollars) declared as family
valuables.
Actually, I
have never met you before, it was a friend of my fathers
who happened to be
present at his burial that advised me to consider your
country for my
investments. After due consideration, I started searching the web site where I
got your email address. No one else is aware of my proposal to you. Due to
social, economic and political instability in west African region, I decided to
seek your assistance in transferring this money to your position for investment
purposes. I have all the vital documents that covers the deposit which could be
faxed to you upon request.
Please note that Transaction of this nature
demands the highest trust and confidence between both parties.
For your
assistance in this transfer, I have decided to give you 20% of the total sum
involved and I will also compensate you with 5% for the inconveniences and for
expenses that we may in cure during the process.
Your acceptance of this
proposal or otherwise should please be communicated through my E-mail
address:
Your quick response will be appreciated.
However, if you are not
disposed to assist, kindly destroy this letter to protect the identity and
confidentiality of the parties involved.
I look forward to hearing from you
at your earliest convenient time.
Yours Sincerely,
Amadas.



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