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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: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 08:19:04 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: INVESTMENT ASSISTANT


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



- Sir/Madam, my name is Mr Padica Ofori,The Manager Eco Bank Ghana Ltd I am writing in respect of a foreign customer of our bank whose name is Late Mr.Smith (Surname withheld)who perished in a plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which crashed on January 15TH 2004, including his wife and only daughter.Since the demise of this our customer, I personally has watched with keen interest to see the next of kin but all has proved abortive as no one has come to claim his funds of (US$17.5 million United States Dollars) which has been with our branch for a very long time.On this note, I decided to seek for whom his name shall be used as the Next of Kin as no one has come up to be the next of kin. And the banking ethics here does not allow such money to stay more than Ten Years, because the money will be recalled to the bank treasury as unclaimed fund after this period. In view of this I got your contact through a trade journal when i was making a research on a foreigner !
i will use in this great opportunity.For your assistant i will give you 30% of the total amount then 10% has been mapped out to donate to the motherless baby home, while the remaining 60% will be for me. Upon the receipt of your response,l will send you by fax or e-mail the letter of application which you will type sign and send back to our bank to enable us start this transaction.I will not fail to bring to your notice that this business is hitch free and that you should not entertain any fear as all modalities for the smooth and easy transfer of this fund has been finalized, this transaction will be completed within five banking days of receiving your response, after you apply to the bank as a relation to the deceased. When you receive this letter, kindly send me an e-mail signifying your decision including your private Tel/Fax numbers for quick communication. Yours Sincerely, Mr Padica Ofori.


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