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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: "CAPTIAN LAWAH BENSON" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <c.lawahbenson@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2017 19:52:32 +0100
Subject: I AM VERY SORRY !!!

I am very sorry to most have border you with this our message,sincerely speaking, I would want to let you know that I have been on course and based on this fact, I would want to establish a relationship,which will yield dividends in due.

But before I continue,let me introduce myself to you, I am Captain Lawah Benson,the Commander of the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force with the United Nations troops in west Africa,on war against terrorism here in Nigeria.I have now in our possession the sum of USD 1.5 million which was recovered from one the terrorists camps here in one the Northern part of country.

Based on the suffering we undergo here some of us do meet such luck. It happened that in our last raid we raided one of the terrorist strong base here in Brono State here in Nigeria and we recovered this huge sum. This box of money have been deposited with the RED CROSS OFFICE here in Nigerian informing them that contacts are been made for its safe keeping and to make contacts for its proper use . As the team leader it is under my power to approve whoever comes forth for this money.

So I need someone I can deal with on trust and that is why I contacted you. So if you accept, I will put you forward as the beneficiary/owner of the funds and then move the money to you in your continent. As military personnel I cannot parade such an amount of money or carry it out of this country by myself, so I need to someone to stand as the beneficiary. I needed your acceptance and all is done. I have a 100% authentic means of transferring the money through diplomatic courier service to you in your country with your name as the beneficiary/ownership of the fund.

So if you are interested,then let me know so I can proceed with the consignment in your name as time is very important to me. I am doing this on trust, you should understand that as a trained military expert I will always be carefully.

My proposal is that after you receive the funds, it would be shared as follows: (1) 30% to you as commission for your co-operation and assistance in facilitating the transfer, while the remaining 70% belongs to me and two(2) of my military colleagues and also the Chief head of the Red Cross.


You will be free to take out your commission immediately the money hits your country. Since my objective is to invest the money in a foreign country, it would be appreciated if you could also help me with advice and direction on investing into profitable/lucrative ventures in your country for an additional 3%.

The only telephone access we have is radio message which is for our general use and is being monitored; therefore all communication will be via email till we finish our assignment here and fly straight to your country to meet you.

Please do consider my proposal and get back to me, if you are interested and as this will take not less than seven(7) working days to be finalized.


Regards
Captain Lawah Benson

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