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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: Alfred Koffi <kofffred12@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ko_ffi_01@live.com
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2008 07:45:00 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: REPLY URGENT


I have a new email address!You can now email me at: kofffred12@yahoo.com



- From the desk of Alfred Koffi It is my pleasure to seek for your assistance, and you should consider it very important. This is an opportunity i would want us to utilize well. I am Mr Alfred Koffi , an officer in charge of Auditing and Accounting section with International commercial bank LTD Ghana, and also a Relationship Account Officer to Dr Salim Chidiac, a Lebanese.He was a Seasoned Contractor with Ghana Cement Company in Ghana Republic, who unfortunately died in the plane crash of Union Transport Africans Flight Boeing 727 in Benin republic in December 25, Dr Salim Chidiac, has a fixed deposit account with the bank and no other person knows about this account or any thing concerning it, the account has no other beneficiary and my investigation proved to me that his supposed next of kin died along with him in the crash. Since then I have made several inquiries to locate any of my client,this has also proved unsuccessful.After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to contact you. I contacted you to assistin repatriating the money left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank to the government. Consequently, Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 7 weeks now. I seek your consent to presentyou as the next of kin of the deceased so that the proceeds of this account valued at US$12.5 million can be paid to you and then you and i can share the money in proportion 70% to me and 30% to you.I sincerely request your honest co-operation to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you and me from any breach of the law. while it will take only 14 working days the funds will be in your nominated Bank account. you should forward the following information to me for a quicker communication.A. Your Full NameB. Private teleph Yours Sincerely.Alfred Koffi


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