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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: "Mr. Roland Kwaku" <rolndkwku88@gmail.com>
Reply-To: rolndkwku@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2012 20:32:17 +0200
Subject: GreetingS!!!

Greetings of the day;

How are you and your family today? I guess good health? Though you may be skeptical receiving this email as we have not met before, but I strongly believed I would not regret approaching you in this matter.

My name is Mr. Roland Kwaku and I am the regional financial officer of a Bank (Ghana Commercial Bank Ltd) here in Ghana. I’m writing in respect of a foreign customer of my bank who died without a written or oral “WILL” attached to the account. Since his death, I personally have watched with keen interest to see the next of kin, but all has proved abortive, sequel to the fact that no one has come to claim this funds and no other person knows about this account or anything concerning it. I am contacting you in this matter because you have the same Surname with the deceased owner of the account and I felt that you could help me in the distribution of funds that were left in the deceased account.

My proposition to you is to seek your consent and to present you as the next-of-kin and beneficiary of the deceased owner of the account, since you have the same Surname with the deceased owner of the account. This means that the proceeds in his account would be paid to you as his next of kin or the legitimate beneficiary. The total amount involved in the deceased account is $17,000,000.00 [Seventeen Million United State Dollars only]. I wish to start the first transfer with $8,000,000.00 and upon successful transfer of the funds into your account without any disappointment from your side, I shall re-apply for the transfer of the remaining balance of $9,000.000.00.

The banking ethics here does not allow such money to stay dormant more than five years without claim, hence the money will be recalled to the government treasury as unclaimed after this long period of dormancy. In view of this I got your contact through my random search in the Internet, to see if you can assist by providing a safe bank account for the transfer or find a reliable person who will be capable of receiving this amount. At the conclusion of the transfer, 70% of the total fund will be for me, while 30% will be for you. All the legal documents to back up your claim as the deceased next of-kin would be provided by me. The most important thing I would need is your honesty, utmost confidentiality and cooperation in this proposition.

Should you be interesting and honest with me in this deal; kindly reply immediately so that I will furnish you with more details about this transaction. I will not fail to bring to your notice that this business is 100% risk and trouble free, so you should not entertain any fear as all modalities for fund transfer can be finalized within 10 to 14 banking days, after you apply to the bank as the beneficiary of the fund from the deceased. I will destroy all documents of transaction immediately the transfer is been concluded, leaving no trace to the transfer and to build confidence.

Your earliest response will be highly appreciated.

Your’s Faithfully,
Mr. Roland Kwaku




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