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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: James Owusu <jowusu377@yahoo.ca>
Reply-To: jowusu424@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:24:40 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Mr James Owusu.


>From The Desk Of,
Mr James Owusu.
Head Regional Manager
International Commercial
Bank Accra-Ghana.

Dear Friend,

My name is Mr James Owusu . I am the Regional Manager of Ghana international
commercial bank, accra branch Ghana. I write you this proposal in good
faith; I am married with two lovely children. I am a man of peace, and have
sincere respect for human feelings and opinions. I have packaged a financial
transaction that will benefit you and I.
As the Regional Manager of Ghana
international commercial bank , accra branch Ghana it is my duty to send in
a financial report to my head office in the capital city, Accra at the end
of each business year.
On the course of last year, 2006 business report, I discovered that the
branch in which I am the Manager made 9.3million United States Dollars
($9,300,000.00) which my head office is not aware of and will never be aware
of. I have placed this funds on what we call Escrow call account with no
beneficiary. As an officer of this bank I cannot be directly connected to
this money, so my aim of contacting you is to assist me receive this money
in your bank account and get 30% of the total funds as commission.
There are practically no risks involved, the transaction will be executed
under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law, it will be
simply a bank-to-bank transfer, and all I need from you is to stand claim as
the original depositor of these funds who made the deposit with my branch so
that my head office can order the transfer to your designated bank account
under few working days.
If you accept to work with me I will appreciate it
very much as you are the first and the only person I am contacting for this
transaction.
Send me an email as soon as you receive this message so that we
can go over the details.

Thank you in advance and may God bless you and your family.
Sincerely,
Mr James Owusu.


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