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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: "BARRISTER POWELL ASHESHE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <barristerpowellasheshe1@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Jul 2012 06:23:58 +0800
Subject: Attension!!!

Attention Sir.
I AM BARRISTER POWELL ASHESHE OF LIBERTY CHAMBERS PRINCIPAL/PARTNER , LEGAL PRACTITIONER/NOTARIES PUBLIC ACCRA GHANA ,
I am personal attorney to Late  DR WILLIAMS PAGE  an American  who unfortunately lost his life in a Ghanaian  Cargo plane crash. A Boeing 747 cargo plane which crashed on February 2008.After the unfortunate incident, I have made several enquiries to his Embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful.
After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his relatives over the Internet, to locate any member of his family but to no avail, hence I contacted you for your assistance .My client when in Ghana   6years ago invested in the construction of private refinery& jetty in Ghana, unfortunately, he could not achieve this all until his untimely death 3 years ago.
Documents in respect to that are with me. Prior to his untimely death, as his Attorney, he did tell me about the money he deposited in one of the
international commercial banks here in GHANA.He deposited the sum of US$35 Million dollars in the bank. I contacted you to assist in repatriating the money left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where this huge deposit were lodged.
Due to the present Capitalization exercise by the Bank of Ghana(BG) stating that all commercial banks in the country must increase their capital base to 250billion our local currency before the end of this year, all banks are now busy looking for money to meet up with the deadline. It is on this note that the bank issued me a notice to provide the next of kin of my client or have the account confiscated.
Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 3 years now. I seek your
consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased.
Upon the conclusion of the transaction, the funds will be shared as follows:- 50% to me, 30% to you, 15% to  charitable organisation to assist  the needy people who lost properties and loved ones, less privilege e.t.c, while 5% will be for expenses or tax as your government may require. We intend to effect the transfer within a few weeks  from the date of receipt
of the following information:
1)Your full names
2)company’s name
3)Address
4)Telephone and Fax numbers
We will on our  side procure all the necessary legal documents required to back you up as the next of kin to the deceased. I require your honest cooperation; Trust and Sincerity to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.
Finally, I want you to know that there are some fraudulent mails of such that are been sent to people at times over the net, I am using this opportunity to inform you about that. I also want to inform you that this is very real. But if you are not comfortable with it, please do not bother to reply. Please get in touch with me by my email (barristerpowellasheshe1@gmail.com) to enable us discuss further.
Also I will like you to come down here if it will be easy for you to do that so that you can carry out an on
the ground assessment and   sign the final docket to release the money and transfer to your foreign account.
Best regards,
Powell Asheshe  (esq),

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