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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: "DENNIS WILLIAMS" <willidenn@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2006 06:43:38 +0000
Subject: From Dennis

Dear Sir/Mad I am the son of the one time Sierra Leonine Minister of works and housing, Dr Kabbah Williams. My name is Dennis Williams I am writing you based on there . He assured me the Your country men are an Honest and trust worthy set of people. Before the death of my father, he wrote me in school and told me about some Money, the sum of (US$ 10,000.000) TEN MILLION US DOLLARS. he deposited in a Security Company here in Ghana, Accra He declared it as African Arts Work in a metallic box, according to him for Security Reasons. I came to Ghana-Accra expressly for this transaction.I have been able to reestablish theownership of this Consignment as a result of the fact that the documents bear me as the next of kin and an only son ;At this point, I wish to move this consignment out of Accra to your country for investment and personal relocation purpose as soon you indicate your interest to helping me out,I will want you to treat this information as top most secret and urgency. I have no option but to let you know immediately what relationship On the retrieval of this money, further instructions will be given to you on whatexpenses would be carried out under cover for us.For your participation,we will give you 15% of the total amount and additional 5% to cover any incidental expenses that you might incur in claiming of this money. I will on your response want us to discussion some lucrative investment to port unities available in your country and the sharing formular for these funds. I will also be relying on your wealth of experience to guide me through this transaction. I will appreciate if you can reach me as soon as you receive this letter to enable us conclude on This modalities and I am sure that this will be possible with in the next two weeks. I will be counting on your cooperation to seeing the success of this plan and 100% risk free. Kind regards, Dennis Williams.

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