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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: Ben Goodman <ben_goodman551@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ben_goodman25@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:57:46 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Regards



From: Mr. Ben Goodman
Accra, Ghana.
=A0
Hello Dear
=A0
I got your contact during my search for a reliable,honest and a trust
=A0worth person to entrust this huge transfer project with My name is=A0 Mr=
.. Ben. k .Goodman, Branch manager of a financial institution here in Ghana.=
I am a Ghanaian married with two kids.
=A0=20
I am writing to solicit your assistance in the transfer of $ 7,597.864.00 M=
illion United States dollars only. This fund is the excess of what my branc=
h in which am the manager made as profit duringthe 2005 financial year.
=A0
I have already submitted annual report for that year to my head officehere =
in Accra Ghana as I have watched with keen interest as they will never know=
of this excess I
=A0have since, placed this amount of $ 7,597.864.00 Million United States d=
ollars only to an Escrow Coded account without a beneficiary (anonymous) to=
avoid traceAs an officer of the bank, I cannot be directly connected to th=
is money due to civil service code which formits civil servants from owing =
or operating foreign currency account coupled
=A0with the fact thatthe fund is huge thus I am impelled to request for you=
r assistance to
=A0receive this money into your bank account on my behalf I intend to part =
30% of this fund to you while 70% shall be for me.=20
I do need to stress that there are 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 so that the fund can be legally process=
ed to your name and be transferred to your account. If you accept this offe=
r, I will appreciate your timely response to my private mail: ben_goodman25=
@hotmail.com
With Regards,
=A0
Mr Ben Goodman=0A=0A=0A

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