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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.Kobina Ebo" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <kobena.m@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2018 20:13:18 -0000
Subject: please reply

I sincerely do not wish to inconvenience you with my letter for I have an urgent matter I wish to discuss with you which will benefit you and I. For introduction, I am Kobina Ebo, a Bank Officer here in Ghana. I am having an important business discussion, I wish to share with you which I believe will interest you, because it is in connection with your last name and you are going to benefit from it. A customer and client of our bank had a fixed deposit with our bank in 2014 for 96 calendar months, valued at US$15,500,000.00 (Fifteen million Five Hundred United State Dollars) the due date for this deposit contract was last 22nd of January 2016. Sadly he was among the death victims in the May 27 2006 Earthquake disaster in Java, Indonesia that killed over 5,000 people. Last week my Bank Management requested that i should give instructions on what to do about his funds, if to renew the contract. My bank management is yet to know about his death, I knew about it because he was my fr
iend and I was his accoun

I am now seeking your co- operation to present you as Next of Kin/ Heir to the account, since you have the same last name with him and my bank head quarters will release the account to you. It is better that we claim the money, than allowing the Bank Directors to take it, they are rich already. I am not a greedy person, so I am suggesting we share the funds equal, 50/50% to both parties, my share will assist me to start my own company which has been my dream.
Due treat this information as TOPSECRET. We shall go over the details once I receive your urgent response strictly through my personal email address:

I will reply to you with further details about this transaction. Thanking you as I anticipate your earliest communication.

Mr.Kobina Ebo.,

Anti-fraud resources: