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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: Richard Koffi <barr_richborn1@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <koffi_chambersonly@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 14:58:50 +0000
Subject: From Legal practitioner



Barrister Richard Koffi.Legal practitioner & public notary& high courtRepresentative,Suite 205 Mdomi plaza,Accra GhanaATTENTIONIt is obvious that this proposal will come to you as a suprise, this is because we have not met before but i am inspired to sending you this e-mail by the huge transfer opportunity that will be mutual benefit to two of us,However, i am barrister Richard Koffi the personal attorney to late Engr. Steve Roxanne a national of Isle of Man in UK, who used to work with Shell Petroleum Development Company(SPDC) in Benin, on the Thursday, 25 December, 2003, 22:53 GMT. my client, his wife and their three children were involved in a Benin air , crash accident The chartered plane, Boeing 727, crashed on take-off at Benin's Cotonou airport and fell into the Gulf of Guinea. You can viste this wbesit and viw the accident:(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/photo_gallery/3348445.stm)Unfortunately they all lost their lives in the event of the accident, since then i have made several enquiries to Embassies to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful, after these several unsuccessful attempts. i decided to trace his relatives over the internet to locate any member of his family but of no avail.I contacted you to assist in repartracting the money and property left behind by my client, i can easily convince the bank with my legal practice that you are the only surviving relation of my client, otherwise the Estate he left behind will be confiscated or declared unservice able by the bank where this huge deposits were lodged, particularly the bank where the deceased had account valued at $10.5 million U.S dollars conseqently, the bank issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have the account confiscated within the next twenty offical working days.Since i have been unsuccessfull in locating the relatives for over several years now, i seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased so that the proceeds of this account valued at $10.5 million U.S dollars can be paid to your account and then you and me can share the money. 55% to me and 40% to you, while 5% should be for expenses or tax as your government may require.I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up any claim we may make, all i require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal though.the information i require from you is this;(1) your full name(2)address(3)telephone/ fax number.I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law,Yours Faithfully,Barrister Richard Koffi. (esq)
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