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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Victor Owusu <victorowusu0024@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <victorowusu01@myway.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 08:37:46 +0000
Subject: Greetings to you,




Dear Friend, My name is Mr Victor Owusu. , the
regional manager of International commercial Bank (ICB) Makola Branch
. I am a Ghanaian married with two
kids. I have packaged a financial
transaction that will benefit both of us. As the regional manager of the bank,
it’s my duty to send financial reports to my head office in the capital city of
Accra. On the course of the last year
2006 end of the year’s report, I discovered that my branch in which I am the
manager made Six Million Five Hundred and Fifty Thousand US Dollars
(6,550.000.00) of which my head Office is not aware of and will never be aware
of. I have since then PLACED this fund on a SUSPENCE ACCOUNT without a
beneficiary. As an officer of the bank, I
cannot be directly connected to this money thus I am compelled to request for
your assistance to receive this money into your bank account. I intend to part with 30% of this
fund to you while 70% shall be for me.I do need to assure you that there
is practically no risk involved in this. It’s going to be a bank-to-bank
transfer. All I need from you is to stand as
the original depositor of this fund. If you accept this offer, I will
appreciate your timely response. With regards, Mr Victor Owusu.
_________________________________________________________________
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