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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: "zzgn_william@terra.es" <zzgn_william@terra.es>
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2007 00:03:47 +0200 (MEST)
Subject: PLEASE HELP ME.


Greetings to you.

My name is William Zongo. I am the son of Chief Vincent Zongo from the Republic of Sierra-Leone.My family and I have been unfortunate to find ourselves caught up in a very difficult situation. You may be surprise to receive this letter, but it is of utmost importance to me and my family.
I am about to entrust my destiny and the destiny of my whole dependants on you, if you can help me, it will also be of immense benefit to you too. This matter demands utmost trust, honesty, integrity and most important.
It is only through the above that my family and I will be assured of our security. This regrettable situation led to the killing of my father and my only sister and displacement of my family. During the brutal civil war in my country, my late father of blessed memory was brutally murdered by the REBELS - Mr. Foday Sankoh.
I managed to escape to this country (Accra-Ghana), through the help of the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Before my late father's death, he drew my attention to one of his access containing about $18 million dollars which he smuggled out at the start of the war to a security company in Ghana, the security company does not know the real contents of the box according to what my father told me.
My father registered the property in my name, he also gave me the certificate of deposit and some other papers issued to him by the security company, which I still have in my possession. The problem I have is that as a refugee, the immigration law does not allow us to open, hold or operate bank account in Ghana and I do not want to seek the assistance of just anybody for fear of being duped or defrauded of our only livelihood.
my father deposited the property in my name because of my future. I seriously need your help to move the property out of Africa because if I tamper with it here in Africa, government may seize it because of my small age, I am 19 years old now, please help me for God sake.
What is holding me here in this country is the property, the life inside refugee camp is not easy, it’s a very bad situation, hence the British Government and UN is not really taking care of us. The property and I have make necessary arrangement legitimately for the transfer of the property out of Africa; only what I need is someone who will receive it in abroad that is why I contact you.
I intend to invest the money on a good business, at the same time we will use part to assist the orphanage Child who are suffering, most especially we the refugees. I will be looking forward to hear from you, as I believe that destiny has brought us together.
NOTE:PLEASE KINDLY RESPOND BACK TO MY ALTERNATIVE EMAIL ADDRESS BELOW:(williamzongo_001@yahoo.co.uk)
William Zongo.






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