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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: "Mr. Frank B. Mensah." <frankmensah_frankmensah@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: frankmensah_frankmensah10@yahoo.co.in
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 19:18:10 -0800
Subject: Seek For Your Co-operation.

From: The Desk of Mr. Frank B. Mensah.
Manager,International Commercial Bank
Takoradi Ghana.

Attn: Friend,
I hope this may not constitute sort of embarrassment to you, first I
must solicit your confidence in this transaction, this is by virtue of
its nature as being utterly confidential and top secret. But I am
assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day.
I have decided to contact you due to the urgency of this transaction,as
I wish to rely on your discreteness and ability in transaction of this
nature. Let me start by introduce my self properly to you, My name is Mr. Frank Mensah, I am the regional manager of the International Commercial Bank of Ghana Takoradi in the Western Region of Ghana. I came to know you in my Private Search for a reliable and reputable person to handle this Confidential Transaction. I am 44years of age and married with 3 lovely kids. It may interest you to hear that I am a man of PEACE and INTERGRITY; I only hope we can assist each other.I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit both of us, as the regional manager of the International Commercial Bank; it is my duty to send in a financial report to my head office in the capital city Accra at the end of each year. On the course of the last year 2004 end of year report, I discovered that my branch in which I am the manager made five million five hundred and fifty thousand dollars [5,550.000.00] which my head office are not aware of and will ne!
ver be aware of. I have since place this fund on what we call SUSPENSE ACCOUNT without any beneficiary.As an officer of the bank I can not be directly connected to this money, this is why I.m contacting you for us to work so that you can assist and receive this money into your bank account for us to SHARE. The sharing of the fund are thus: 30% for you 50% for I and the remaining 20% for any legal expenses incurred in this transaction. Note that there are practically no risks involved in this transaction as it is 100% risk free and legally bonded,it will be bank to bank transfer, all I need from you is to stand claim as the original depositor of this fund who made the deposit with our branch so that my Head office can order the transfer to your designated bank account.
If you accept this offer to work with me, If you find this proposal
suitable for you do furnish me with the following information.
Your full Name and Contact Address, Your private telephone
Number Your Age, Your Occupation and Position.
I will appreciate it very much, If this proposal is acceptable by you,
do not make undue advantage of the trust I have bestowed in you,and how
we can achieve it successfully.

Best regards,
Mr. Frank Mensah.



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