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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: "Patrick Kumuna" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <patkumuna@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 14:46:49 -0400
Subject: Investment

Dear Friend,
 
I appreciate your reply confirming interest to co-operate with me and my partners to facilitate the transfer of money into your country for investment. We are taking the money out of Africa for safety and economic reasons. We believe the funds will be quite safe and grow maximally when invested  in your dynamic and great country. By having legitimate investments there, it gives us the opportunity of coming to spend holidays in your country with our families whenever we want in future. The business should bring our two people into lasting and rewarding friendship.
It is important I make it clear that our proposed funds transfer /investment cooperation with you is a serious, real and legitimate business, and not one of the internet scams you might have heard about.  Africa is not a very safe place to secure ones financial future.  Since the middle ninety-sixties, when African countries began to see prosperity, privileged officials in every country of sub-Saharan Africa have always had the need to transfer and secure their hard earned monies into safer economies like Europe, Asia and America.  This reality still exists up till this day and it is this that the  scammers fake.  There are genuine and real money transfer deals happening all the time between Africans and confidential overseas associates in other parts of the world.  For my partners and me, this is our own time and opportunity to secure our funds for the future benefit of ourselves, offsprings, and yourself our proposed foreign associate.
 
The money we are transferring belongs to me and two partners all living here in Banjul, The Gambia.  I have their mandate to coordinate the confidentiality cooperation between us and an overseas partner for the purpose of transferring and investing the money offshore.  Two of my partners are from Sierra Leone and we all used to work at the Diamond Mining Corporation in that country.  The money was acquired from private diamond deals carried out over the years between some overseas buyers and us.  It is all from clean and legitimate source.  However, due to peculiarities of Africa resulting from political instability and incidents of civil wars, it is not very safe to keep ones money here. I am aware this kind of confidentiality transaction is not something one comes across every time in your world, but anyone who has had extensive dealings with African countries would not find it strange.  Discrete money transfers have always been carried out by! top officials in Africa in col laboration with silent partners o
I feel it is my responsibility at this point to make these explanations to you so that you do not have any misconceptions  and know on time that what you will be having in your hands is a serious and real financial transactions for which you must make all necessary arrangements for safe receipt of the funds to your account, so there are no problems after the money gets there. I assure and guarantee that the money we are transferring is legitimate, earned from the hard work of I and my two Sierra Leonean partners. Be rest assured the funds have nothing to do with money-laundering or terrorism finance. We are only seeking better and safer pastures for our money.In Africa, it is permissible for one to use his connections in official positions to carry out personal businesses and make money legitimately. This is exactly what happened during the period I and my partners worked as high ranking officials at the Diamond Mining Company in Sierra Leone before the civil wars dista! bilize
d the country.
 
Prior to the transfer, you will be provided with all necessary documentation to back-up receipt of the funds to your account.
For reason that Dollar is not the national currency here and all foreign transfers are regulated by the governments, we are going through the offshore banking channels of Central Bank of West Africa to get the funds transferred legitimately. It is unlike your country, where one can easily transfer money from any bank. To be successful in this, we have enlisted the private assistance of some top officials of the Central Bank to pass the transaction through their normal international transfer channels.Please note the issues involved here. The money we are talking about was earned and retained in cash under special arrangements in a security company's vault in Freetown (Sierra Leone) before been moved to Banjul, The Gambia. Owing to the civil war in Sierra Leone,almost all transactions were done in cash because nobody wanted to keep his money in a bank that doesnot have security due to break down of law and government in that country at the period.
 
As much as we ensure everything is done legitimately from here, you should as well know the facts and do what is necessary on your own part to receive the funds without problems.
Once you confirm your ability to handle the transaction and receive the funds, the first step will be for us to sign a confidentiality agreement, which ratifies our intentions to relate honestly and work together with the sole purpose of respecting each other's interests. I am getting this confidentiality agreement ready and should email it for your comments,as soon as I receive your positive response hereafter.
After signing the agreement with you, we shall proceed to commence the transfer process through our Central Bank, for which the officials assissting us will obtain all necessary documentation in your favour to back-up legitimate transfer of the funds to your account.
My telephone number is +220 802 8379491. You can get reach me any time in Banjul. My country is on the same time with London (UK).Having provided you details, I look forward to receiving confirmation of your capability to work with us to realize the transfer and subsequent investment of the money in your country, for mutual benefits. If you are capable of helping us, I also expect to receive the following information from you to enable us proceed accordingly.: Name and address of your bank to be used for the transfer, routing number, account number and account name.
 
Sincerely,
 
Patrick Kumuna



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