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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: jame aku <jameaku19@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:16:30 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: GOOD DAY


MR JAMEAKU
T B CO;CHAMBERS,
10TH FLOOR;LE SACRE COUR VILLA;
207 AVENUE HOUPHET BOIGNY;
COTONOU REPUBLIC OF BENIN. Dear friend,
I am mr jameaku a solicitor. Am the personal attorney to Engr.
CARRIER ,A national of your country, possibly Could be your brother,
who used to Work with Oando Petroleum Development Company [West
Africa],Cotonou Branch hereinafter shall be referred to as my client. In 2004, my client, his wife and their two children were involved in a plane crash in a village called Adjarra near Porto Novou after take off from Cotonou here in Benin Republic.It was unfortunate that my client and his family all lost their lives in the crash.For more on the plane crash logon to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3348109.stm
Since then I have made several enquiries at your embassy here in
Cotonou and Porto Novou to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful. After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to track his last name over the internet, to locate
any member of his family hence I contacted you. I have contacted you to
assist in repatriating the money and property left behind by my client
before they get confiscated, frozen or declared unserviceable by the
bank where these huge deposits were lodged.
PARTICULARLY, THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK INTERNATIONAL where the
deceased had an account valued at about FIVE MILLION NINE HUNDRED UNITED STATE DOLLARS [ USD5.9M ]. The Management has issued me a notice to provide the next Of kin or have the account frozen within the next twenty Official working days. Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 2 years now i seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since you have the same last name so that the proceeds of this account valued at USD5.9M can be paid to you and then you and me can share the money. 60% to me and 40% to you.
I have all the necessary legal documents that can be used to back up
any claim we may make.And this I must do to make sure that this fund is not Wasted or end up in the wrong hands. All I require is your honest
co-operation to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee that this
will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. You can contact me on my private email address as: jameaku@yahoo.com

I am waiting for your urgent reply.
REGARDS,
jameaku




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