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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: John Mensah <johnmensah211@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 06 Jun 2010 15:35:22 +0430
Subject: HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL

From: Mr.John Mensah # 9-10 Obrafour avenue Legon district Accra - Ghana. (HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL) (RE: TRANSFER OF ($ 22,000.000.00 USD) (TWENTY TWO MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS) We want to transfer to overseas ($ 22,000.000.00 USD) from a bank here in Ghana, I want to ask you to quietly look for a reliable and honest person who will be capable and fit to provide either an existing bank account or to set up a new Bank a/c immediately to receive this money, even an empty a/c can serve to receive this money, as long as you will remain honest to me till the end of this important business trusting in you and believing in God that you will never let me down either now or in future. I am Mr.John Mensah, Director of International Relation with a bank here in Ghana,during the course of our auditing I discovered a floating fund in an account opened in the bank in 1990 and since 1993 nobody has operated on this account again, after going through some old files in the records I discovered that the owner of the account died without a [heir] hence the money is floating and if I do not remit this money out urgently it will be forfeited for nothing. the owner of this account is Mr.Chris Marco , a foreigner, and a sailor, and he died since 1993. 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 as well that Chris Marco was the manager of Chris Coy.(Gh). LTD. We will start the first transfer with Ten million ($10,000.000.00) upon successful transaction without any disappoint from your side, we shall re-apply for the payment of the remaining amount to your account,The amount involved is (USD 32M) I want to first transfer $22,000.000 [Twenty Two million United States Dollar from this money into a safe foreigners account abroad before the rest, but I don't know any foreigner in my life, I am only contacting you as a foreigner because this money can not be approved to a local person here, without valid international foreign passport, but can only be approved to any foreigner with valid international passport or drivers license and foreign a/c because the money is in US dollars and the former owner of the a/c Mr. Chris Marco is a foreigner too, [and themoney can only be approved into a foreign a/c. Arrange your A/c and send it to me as follows for the processing of the payment: 1)A/C NUMBER:............... 2)A/C NAME:................... 3)BANK NAME:................. 4)BANK ADDRESS:.............. 5)SWIFT CODE:................... I got your contact address from my secretary who operates computer and I am revealing this to you with believe in God that you will never let me down in this business, you are the first and the only person that I am contacting for this business,so please reply urgently so, that I will inform you the next step to take.Send also your private telephone and fax number including the full details of the account to be used for the deposit as started above. I need your full co-operation to make this work fine.because the management is ready to approve this payment to any foreigner who has correct information of this account, which I will give to you, upon your positive response and once I am convinced that you are capable and will meet up with instruction of a key bank official who is deeply involved with me in this business. I need your strong assurance that you will never let me down,With the influence and the position of the key bank official we can transfer this money to any foreigner's reliable account which you can provide with assurance that this money will be intact pending our physical arrival in your country for sharing. The bank official will destroy all documents of transaction immediately we receive this money leaving no trace to any place and to build confidence, you can come immediately to discuss with me face to face after which I will make this remittance in your presence and three of us will fly to your country at least two days ahead of the money going into the account. I will apply for annual leave to get visa immediately I hear from you that you are ready to act and receive this fund in your account. I will apply for the legal approvals for onward transfer of this money to your account with appropriate clearance from the relevant ministries and foreign exchange departments. At the conclusion of this business, you will be given 30% of the total amount, 60% will be for me,5% will be for expenses both parties might have incurred during the process of transferring and 5% will be for orphanage homes. I look forward to hear from you as soon as possible if you are interested. Email johnmensah211@gmail.com Yours Sincerely, Mr.John Mensah

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