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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: awunyo <awunyokwasmah@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: kwasmah_awunyo111@yahoo.co.jp
Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2011 02:52:37 -0800 (PST)
Subject: From Awunyo kwasmah


From Awunyo kwasmah
 
Dear One,
It is my pleasure to introduce myself to your good self. My name is Awunyo kwasmah , I am an orphan (20 years old). My late father was the Managing
Director of a cocoa export company here in Abidjan,Cote d'Ivoire until his
untimely death on the 2nd of October 2007 . He was poisioned by his business associates while my mother died wen i was small.
 
Soon as my father died, I later found out that he has some deposit in suspense account in a bank here in Abidjan before he died and it is only me that have the knowledge of this. He also made me the next of kin when he deposited the money in the account.
This is the reason why I am contacting you. I am a 20years old boy as I told you earlier. I just finished my high school and I would like to go into business with this heritage.
 
I am contacting you so that you can become my business partner by helping me to transfer the money in any account you can  nominate in your country. After the successful transfer of the money, I will then move together with you to your country, where we shall invest the money in a viable investment. The sum in question is threemillion, five hundred thousand US dollar(US$3,500,000). I also hope to continue my education in your country from this amount as soon as the money and myself gets to your country.
 
Immediately upon the successful transfer of this money and my subsequent travel to your country, I will compensate you with 10% of the total sum that would be transferred for your kind assistance.
 
You will also serve as a guardian of the joint investment we are going to operate together.
Please, I pray you to keep this email confidential for security reasons.
 
I hope you will understand my plight. I am expecting your kind response as soon as possible .
May God bless you mightily!!!
 
Yours sincerely,
Kwasmah Awunyo

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