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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: Desmond Kara <desmondkara20082008@yahoo.com.sg>
Reply-To: desmonddkara@yahoo.com.sg
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 03:53:30 -0800 (PST)
Subject: I read your profile and decided to write you.




Hello ,
I am writing this letter with due respect and with a heart filled with tears. i want to beg for your forgiveness should this letter come to you as a surprise and a sort of embarrassment since you are going to receive it from an unknown person. I decided to send you this mail not because i personally want to embarrass you but it is because of my situation which need urgent care, love, immediate attention and intervention hence the inner urge to contact you for assistance. I came across your email contact in one of the sites while navigating the internet in search of a foreign business partner who will help me to invest my fund .  It was after going through your profile which projected you in good order that i made up my mind to write you. I believe you can help me if you are moved by your spirit to assist me.

My reason for contacting you is that i want to invest my funds in your country, i will like to know if it can be possible for you to help me to invest the fund in profitable business projects in your country. As i stated above i came across your profile in one of the sites and i felt the need to contact you because your profile my mind told me that you will reply back my mail and that you are going to help me. I will be very glad if you can lead me to the right channel by rendering assistance to me in terms of providing a safe bank account where the fund will be transfered before we investing the money in sound and lasting investment projects. Once again, please forgive me for sending this mail to you. I am sure you are not expecting to receive any mail from an unfamiliar person at this period of time.

It is very important for me to introduce myself to you at this point. My name is Desmond Kara, i am a young black man from the Republic of Liberia in West, Africa.
My late father Mr Kamara Kara was chairman and Managing director  of the "National Diamond Company Limited" in Monrovia the capital city of my country and he was also the personal adviser to the former head of state, Mr Charles Taylor who is currently on trial at the international court of justice at Hague in the Netherlands for crimes against humanity. My father and mother were attacked by armed rebels inside our house one early morning and both of them were killed in cold blood, these are evils perpetrated by heartless people during the bloody war fought in my country. I was at the University of Liberia reading International Relations when this sad incident occurred. I am the only person that is alive in my family, it gives me nightmares and sleepless nights whenever i remember the brutal death of my parents. I managed to find my way to a nearby country,Senegal where i am living now as a refugee under the United Nations refugee agency through the help
of members of the Red Cross.

My reason for contacting you is that i want you to assist in the area of investing my funds in profitable business ventures. And also for you to help me to secure the transfer of the huge amount of money in my possession which my father left behind to a safe bank account in your country. The amount involved is US$9,700,000 ( Nine million seven hundred thousand United States dollars), it was deposited in one of the banks in London, United Kingdom some years ago by my father in which my name appeared as his next of kin and beneficiary of the fund in the bank's official deposit file. I want you to be my business partner and foreign representative. Your duty is to help me to secure the transfer of the above mentioned amount of money to a safe bank account in your country. I am not permitted by the law of this country to open bank account or transfer money to any bank because of my refugee status, the law of Senegal does not allow refugees to open bank
account or transfer money to banks. When i contacted the bank where the fund was deposited the manager of the bank confirmed that the money is still intact and advised me to search for a foreign investor who can help me to invest the fund.
 
I have decided to give you 15% of the total sum as your commision for the help you are going to give me by providing a safe bank account where the fund would first be transfered before we start investing it in your country. You will also be entitled to a certain percentage on accrued profits after investment. I have full confidence in your ability to assist me based on what i saw in your profile. For you to know the reality of the existence of the fund, i am inviting you to come to Senegal to see me in person for you to see a physical proof that the fund was deposited at the bank in London by my father before his untimely death, i consider meeting in person very important. I will give you more details and also send my pictures and telephone number to you immediately i receive your reply. You should reply me back through this email address.
Yours sincerely,
Desmond.


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