419 scam: "Agyeman Apiah" <agyemanapiah2558@gmail.com> Priority Mail

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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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "million us dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- ",000,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "offshore account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Agyeman Apiah" <agyemanapiah2558@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <agyemanapiah258@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:20:43 -0500
Subject: Priority Mail

Dear,

I am a staff in the audit department of International Commercial Bank (ICB)
Ltd. Ghana.Two weeks back, a female aid to the former Libyan leader Col.. Maummar
Gaddafi, brought the sum of US$98,000,000.00 (Ninety Eight
Million US Dollars), and pleaded with me to assist her safeguard and move
the money to an offshore account.

For obvious reasons, I deposited the money in a non-bank financial
institution/firm from where it would be released to a beneficiary as loan
without collateral and without a trace. The beneficiary would open a local
account and gradually transfer the money abroad.

The beneficiary keeps 30%, I will take 20%, while she keeps the rest.

If you are capable and willing to assist, I will provide further details
once I hear from you, and you will not spend any money upfront. All you need
to do is to sign the fund release papers and present some sort of ID .

Thanks
Apiah Agyeman.
agyemanapiah258gmail.com

n/b: I will assume you are not interested in my submission if I do not hear
from you in a week, and will be left with no other option than to solicit
assistance elsewhere.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam