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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: =?utf-8?B?QWRhbSBNZW5zYWg=?=<adamensah1@naver.com>
Reply-To: <adammensah02@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 22 Jul 2017 11:31:35 +0900
Subject: =?utf-8?B?VGhpcyBpcyBmb3Igb3VyIG11dHVhbCBiZW5lZml0LCBwbGVhc2UgZ2V0IGJhY2sgdG8gbQ==?=
=?utf-8?B?ZSBhcyBzb29uIGFzIHBvc3NpYmxlOg==?=



Hello my friend,

My name is Adam Mensah. I am working with one of the leading Banks here in Accra, Ghana. I would need your consent to present you as the next of kin of our late customer, who died of heart attack in 2008. She was a wealthy gold merchant who deposited a large sum of money (USD15.4M) in our Bank. She died without any registered next of kin as she was long divorced and had no children.

I was her account officer and have in my possession all the documents required to present you as her next of kin. I contacted you because you have the same name with our late customer and can perfectly fit in as her next of kin and we can work together to claim this fund. Listen, this is real and goes on in Banks all over the world without people having the knowledge.

Let us take advantage of this opportunity, because it does not come always. A lot of customers open private accounts with different Banks without the knowledge of their families, and when they died, such money will be lost to the Bank unless someone comes to claim it. This is how a lot of Bank Directors make so much money silently.

On your confirmation of this message and indicating your interest, I will provide you with more details. Please endeavor to provide me the following, so that we can discuss in details:

1)Your full name................................
2)Mobile phone numbers..................
3)Contact address and ....................
4)Occupation....................................

I await your reply as soon as possible.

With kind regards,

Mr Adam Mensah

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