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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: Jos Varh <josvarh38@yahoo.com.mx>
Reply-To: joseph_varh0040@yahoo.fr
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2008 15:12:30 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: From Joseph Varh.


Hello,

I am sorry for the embarrassment this email might caused you but it's a transaction that requires your commitment and it need to be handled in a matured way. My name is Mr.Joseph Varh, a Banker and accountant with the a Commercial Bank here in Abidjan Ivory Coast. I am the personal accounts manager to Mr.Robert Ochoa an American who used to work with an oil servicing company here in Cote Ivoire before he got a contract with the Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of the Houston-based oil company Halliburton in Iraq in 1996.

Mr.Robert Ochoa made a numbered fixed deposit for 10years, with a value of (Six million United States Dollars) in my branch. Upon maturity in 2006, several notices were sent to him, even during the war last year. Early this year another notification was sent and still no response came from him. We later found out that our client and his family had been killed during the war since the 5th of August, 2003. According a reliable information we received, Mr.Robert was in a five-vehicle convoy with his family travelling from Baghdad when it hit an improvised device.

After further investigation, it was also discovered that Mr.Robert Ochoa did not declare any next of kin in his official papers, including the paper work of his bank deposit. He confided in me when he made the deposit, as a matter facts no one except me has the details of his deposit in our bank. So, the $6,000,000.00 (Six million United States Dollars) is still lying in our bank, and no one will ever come forward to claim it. What bothers me most is that according to the laws of my country, at the expiration of 3 years the funds will revert to the ownership of the Ivory Coast government, if nobody come up as the deceased next of kin to claim the funds. Against this backdrop, my suggestion to you is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand as the next of kin to Mr.Robert Ochoa so that you will be able to receive his funds.

Since I have not been successful in locating the relatives of the late Mr. Robert I will seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of this our deceased client so that the proceeds of this account valued at ($ 6 million US dollars) can be paid to you and then you and I will share the money.I want you to know that I have had everything planned out so that we shall come out successful, all I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal through.I guarantee that this deal will be executed under all legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. In your reply, If you can handle this deal with me, reach me now through this e-mail box for more details.

Looking forward to hearing from you
Sincerely,
Joseph Varh.


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---------------------------------

¡Capacidad ilimitada de almacenamiento en tu correo!
No te preocupes más por el espacio de tu cuenta con Correo Yahoo!:
http://correo.yahoo.com.mx/

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