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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: =?utf-8?q?nana=20martins?= <martins_nana1@yahoo.com.ve>
Reply-To: nanamartins1964@live.com
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:31:41 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: URGENT REPLY NEEDED


¡Tengo nueva dirección de correo!Ahora puedes escribirme a:martins_nana1@yahoo.com.ve

URGENT REPLY NEEDED

- I hope this may not constitute sort of embarrassment to you, My name is Mr.Nana Martins,I am the regional bank manager of the Barclays Bank Ghana Ltd.I came to know you in my Private Search for a reliable and reputable person to handle this Confidential Transaction. I am 45 years of age and married with 3 lovely kids. It may interest you to hear that I am a man of PEACE and INTERGRITY; I only hope we can assist each other.I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit both of us, as the regional Auditor General of the Barclays Bank Ghana Ltd.; it is my duty to send in a financial report to my head office in the capital city Accra at the end of each year.On the course of last year 2006 end of year report, I discovered that my branch in which I am the manager made an excess profit of five million united states dollars (US$5,000,000.00) which my head office are not aware of and will never be aware of. I have since placed this fund on what we call ESCROW ACCOUNT without any beneficiary.As an officer of the bank I can not be directly connected to this money, this is why I.m contacting you for us to work so that you can assist and receive this money into your bank account for us to SHARE. I will offer you 20% of the total amount for your assistance.Note that there are practically no risks involved in this transaction , it will be bank to bank transfer, all I need from you is to stand claim as the original depositor of this fund who made the deposit with Takoradi branch so that my Head office can order the transfer to your designated bank account.Do not make undue the advantage of the trust I have bestowed on you, and I assure you we can achieve it successfully.Best regards,Mr.Nana Martins.


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