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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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Fraud email example:

From: "MICHAEL JOHNSON" <micjon@bol.com.br> (may be fake)
Reply-To: micjon2004@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 09:45:36 +0000
Subject: hello dear


We are corporate & investment lawyers acting as solicitors for one Hon. (Dr.) Avril Cummings, former
commissioner for Income Tax of Republic of Sierra Leone. My client is presently residing in Accra, Ghana as a refugee due to political and legal problems he is having with the government of Sierra Leone under President Tejan Kabbah. My client was falsely accused of fraud and subsequently the Anti-CorruptionCommission (ACC) headed by Commissioner Val T. Collier slapped a phony corruption charges on him andan arrest warrant was issued on him. (Reference to West Africa Magazine Publication of 26th Nov. E2nd Dec2001) Web http://www.westafricamagazine.com/www.westafricamagazine.com. My client is a man of affluence, no doubt about that.
He had acquired enormous wealth, no doubt about that. But his wealth was not acquired illegally neither hadhe solicited, accepted or taken any illegal advantage as falsely accused by the Anti-Corruption Commission.(Ref: Publication of 21st E27th Jan. 2002. www.westafricamagazine.com.
As fate would have it, my client was fortunate to escape from Sierra Leone and now resides as a refugee in Ghana. His enemies who traced where he was residing as a refugee here in Ghana due to later killed him the corroboration of some high government officers. In the course of his departure from Sierra Leone he was fortunate to have arrived in Ghana wit reasonable quantity of precious minerals and cash amount of $27,000,000.00 USD (Twenty Seven Million )My client Son will be prepared to finance your project or enter into a joint venture with you subject to a due
diligence period of one week to thoroughly study your business plan etc. To that effect I, being the attorney will like to join hand with you and get this fund transferred into your account. Also I want you to note that the fund was kept in the bank vault, and that it is our responsibility
to clear out any hindrance that would delay the smooth transfer of the fund. Please percentage is negotiable upon your reply. Please be mindful that the fund is of no criminal origin. The transfer and investment is necessitated due to political instability in the region. Please let us know by returned mail/fax if we could be of some
help in financing your project.
Hope to hear from you.
Sincerely yours.
MICHAEL JOHNSON




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