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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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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.

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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "a security company " (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. Never ever send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally. )
  • "the consignment" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • ",500,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "god fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
• This email message is a orphan scam.
• This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
  • mensahkoffa@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "MENSAH PREMPAH" <mensahkoffa1@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mensahkoffa@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 01:03:17 +0100
Subject: please help me


*ATTEN:Dear Sir/Madam
How you doing over there? hope all is fine.first and foremost i will like
to tell you that i do believe you are God sent, because , i have be praying
and fasting over this, that God should provide me with a sincere and
reliable person with Godly mind.
I am mensah koffa the only surviving children of late Steve Koffa who
traded in gold and diamond before his assassination during the Sierra Leone
civil war. My Father, mother, and two brothers were assassinated and burnt
beyond recognition by rebels after looting cash, diamonds and gold from my
family but somehow spared my life.
I am contacting you in respect of the sum of $76,500.000.00 deposited by my
late father in a security company before he died. This money is part of
money he realized from the sales of diamonds and gold by him. I got your
contact on a notepad details that a previous user forgot to delete on the
pc I am using on the internet this morning and having been convinced from
your profile that you are capable of handling a transaction of this
magnitude, I decided to entrust you with this great task.
My father told me and my elder brother JULIUS koffa (who died on the 17th
of December 2006 due to poor medical attention resulting from my inability
to buy prescribed drugs for him) about these deposit with this security
company in Ghana, and when we came to Ghana after his death we found the
security company and I confirmed that the three boxes containing $25.5
MILLION DOLLARS each were still in their safe custody. Due to our refugee
status, we were not qualified to claim the deposit, more so before his death
he gave me and my brother some documents and he said that this documents are
the documents covering the deposit and that am the next of kin so with all
this documents the truck boxes will be released to me and my brother.
I been the next of kin to the consignment so it was then i was told that at
the time my late father deposited the truck boxes he made an agreement with
the security company that its only his foreign business partners in overseas
has the right to received the said truck box so they shows me the document
and i go through mine and see also, so i told them that we will look for one
of my late father partners in overseas and as soon as i talked to any i will
let them know.
So i went and confided in a lawyer here in Ghana and told him everything so
the lawyer confronted the security company and was also told the same thing
so he told me to look for any of my late father business partners in
overseas so i told him that i do not know any so he ask me to look for a
trust worthy person that will assist me a God fearing person that will not
run away with the funds before i got your email contact.
What I require of you to do for me now is your agreeing to this proposal and
contact the lawyer to issue you with a change of ownership to claim the box
from the security company here in Ghana(I beg for your utmost HONESTY
assuring me that you will not betray me when the boxes is handed over to
you.)I agree to give you 50% from the three boxes containing $76,500,000.00
for been my beneficiary in overseas that will stand as my late father
foreign investor and the balance 50% will be mine and you will assist me to
secure new documents that will enable me to travel down to join you in your
country.
Please in your reply include your;
A: FULL NAMES
B: ADDRESS
C. Direct Cell Phone #

As these information will be required by the lawyer here in Ghana to draft
the new change of ownership in your name as my beneficiary.Hope to hear from
you soon.please send your reply via my private email address: **
mensahkoffa@yahoo.com* <mensahkoffa@yahoo.com>
*Best Regards
Thanks and God bless.
Mensah Koffa*

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam