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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: "Timothy Pano," <timothy_pano@yahoo.co.uk> (may be fake)
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 01:26:19 +0000
Subject: I AM COUTING ON YOU

Dear Sir,

REQUEST FOR URGENT HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE.
I am Timoty Pano, the son of late Dr Mathew Pano,of blessed memory,from Kono District North of Sierra leone west Africa.
MY late father Dr Mathew Pano, before his death he hold a very sensitive position in PRESIDENT TEJAN KABBAHS government in my country SIERRA LEONE,My father has a bullet shot by the rebels west side boys on his way to LUISA a border town between sierra leone and liberia,He was later conveyed to abidjan LA- COTEDIOVRE for a medical treatment wherein he later died, in the hospital bed my father reveal and confide in me about one metallic box ( consignment)he deposited with security company here in Accra Ghana, containing ($7,3 MILLION) SEVEN MILLION THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS.
According to my late father that nobody in the security company knows the real contents of the metalic boxes,becuase he wisely declared them as family tresures and a gift items to his foreign partner which bears nobody's name. since the death of my father the rebels has held us hostage untill the intervention of the UNITED NATION SECRECTARY GENERAL MR KOFI ANNAN whom secure a peace agrement with the rebels that led to our release ,All the refuggee move to the GHANA concentrated refuggee camp but i am in a hotel room with my sick mother and my only sister.
We are presently in the hotel room now seeking for your help and assistance for you to come to my aid I proposed that you stand as my proxy person that is my late father's foriegn partner,so as to get the metalic boxes out of the security company and have it transfer into your foreign account oversea,since i am too young to handle this myself. This transaction is now only known by you,myself and my old mother whom is now with me,pls,the secrecy and confidentiality should be maintained for the successful transfer of this fund. I will not hesitate to forward to you all the documents my late father gave to me for the relerase of the consignment from the company.
The most important is to you to come down here in Ghana to assist me for the retrive of the consignments from the security company. I am waiting seriously to hear from you soonest,for more details.
With Best Regards,
Timoty Pano,
for the family,


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