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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: "monsieur.moinel" <monsieur.moinel@laposte.net>
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:20:33 +0100 (CET)
Subject: Please get in touch


>From Mr Steven Cole.
Auditing & Accounting Department
of Ecobank PLC lome-Togo.
Telephone: +228 982 13 29

Dear Friend,

I wish this my proposal will not come to you as a surprise.I am Mr Steven Cole,a Regional Director of Ecobank Lome-Togo(Economic community of West African Bank) with regional Office here in Lome-Togo.We had a foreign client,who used to work with Shell International Republic of Togo,he deposited a huge amount of $5.5m(Five million five hundred thousand United States Dollars),with our Bank.

Eventually this client,died on the 21st of April 2001,our client,his wife and their children were involved in a car accident along Kara-Sokode expressway while arriving from a Holiday to Lome,Togo.

A sitaution I have monitored closely with my position in the Bank. Now, having monitored this deposit and managed it over the years before his death, and hence nobody has showed up as the next of kin for the past three years plus, I have removed the file to my private vault.

I seek your consent to present as the next of kin to the deceased, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you. I now solicit for your assistance to present you as the next of kin as every other arrangement has being concluded by me and I am only waiting for a foreigner to enable me move the fund to his designated foreign bank account in his country.

This does not have any risk attached to it as all the internal documentations will be handled by me. I therefore request you to confirm your interest by a return message and I will furnish you with details but do not forget to keep top secret. you will be entitled to 25% of the total sum as gratification,while 5% will be set aside to take care of expenses that may arise during the time of transfer and also telephone/fax bills, and 70% will be for me and my partner.

I look forward to hearing from you immediately you recieves this message.

Best Regards,

Mr Steven Cole

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