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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: charles okoto <cokoto007@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2015 12:16:50 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Urgent business assistance.


From: Dr. B. olbert.private Phone No.+ 27-78-711-0619.Email Address : jeankarahan@yahoo.comAttn: The president/Coe,
In order to execute and transfer out (US$15,000,000.00) FifteenMillion United States Dollars from Absa Bank. I have picked up trust andcourage to look for a reliable and trustworthy person like you who will becapable of this important transaction believing that you will never let me downeither now or in the future since you have a reliable company. .My name is Dr. B. Colbert, the ChiefAuditing Officer of the Absa Bank South Africa. There is an account opened inthis bank in 2004 and since 2014, nobody has operated this account. After goingthrough some old files in the records, I discovered that if I do not remit thismoney out urgently, it would be forfeited for nothing.  The owner of this account was Mr.Francis Kennedy of United States of America, was a miner at Kruger GoldCompany here in South Africa. (KGCSA), a geologist by profession, and he diedin 2014. No other person or persons knows about this amount or anythingconcerning it due to the fact that the death certificate was not provided byany of his family members, therefore the account has no other beneficiary andmy investigation proved to me as well that his company does not know anythingabout this account and the amount involved is (US$15,000,000.00).Fifteen Million U S Dollars only.  I am contacting you based on thefact that you are a foreigner, because this money can only be approved forpayment to a foreigner, more so it cannot be approved to local bank here, asthis money is in U S Dollars, hence the former owner of this account is aforeigner too. I know that this proposal will come to you as a surprise as wedon't know ourselves before, however, I based my move on trust and God'sdirective and we still have to meet possibly, sign some agreement before thefinal transfer of the fund into any of your chosen designated bankaccount.  Please, treat with utmost confidentiality.  We will provide all necessarylegal documents needed to back up any claim we may make. All I require from youis your honest co-operation to enable us see this transaction through. Iguarantee that this transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangementthat will protect you from any breach of law. There is no atom of risk involvedin this business. The only risk i have here is from you refusing to work withme and alerting my bank. Upon receipt of the deposit i am prepared to share themoney with you in half, 50/50. That is 50% for me and 50% to you. If you findyourself able to work with me kindly indicate your willingness via the aboveemail address. If you give me positive signals, i will initiate this processtowards a conclusion. I have taken the necessary precaution in arranging thetransfer to avoid problems and delays. Please do not betray the confidence irepose in you. N B, Contact me immediately after reading thismail before we can proceed in full.  Yours faithfully,  Dr. B, Colbert  

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