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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: benchmichael6@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2020 16:51:07 +0000
Subject: my sister is sick - reply

my sister is sick - reply

To fill it out, visit:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeUpzlX2dz12UKh3kn5ckoVlnrUW24it1c8DkS5S8NuP4LO-Q/viewform?vc
Good Day,

Our sincere Greetings to you, I know that this mail will come to you as a
surprise but please it is because of our desparate quest for assistance and
desire to enter into a business relationship with you.
My name is Michael Bench the only son of late Chief Matthew Bench from
Western Province in the Republic of Sierra Leone. I got your contact from
the Ecowas Infomation Center in Abidjan,Cote d'Ivoire here. My source
of your contact gave me the courage and confidence to rely on you. I am
writing you in absolute confidence primarily to seek your assistance to
transfer some amount of money deposited by my late father with a bank here
in Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire to your private account in your country and
for you to help me and my sister to get our papers to come over to your
country for the investment of the money in good business venture which you
will serve as an overseer and for the continuation of our education.
I am 19 years old and my sister Ndri is 16. Our father, late Chief Matthew
Bench was before his death a diamond and precious stone merchant in our
country Sierra Leone. He was killed during the civil war in our country by
the forces loyal to the Government on the allegations that he was
sponsoring the rebels, this caused us to run to Cote D'Ivoire with our
late mother. But on getting to Cote D'ivoire our mother developed a
heart ailment which claimed her life.
But before she died she gave me the documents of the money which our late
father deposited in a bank here in Cote D'Ivoire and told us that our
late father reached an agreement with the bank that the money is for onward
transfer to a foreign account and entered my name his only son as the next
of kin. She pleaded that I should look for a good and trustworthy person
abroad who will help me to transfer this money out of here and help me and
my sister to come over to his or her country to continue our education and
investment of the money.
I have visited the bank and met the director who assured me that the money
is intact and that once I submit the details of the foreign partner in
whose account the money will be transferred to, that the bank will commence
the transfer proceedings immediately.
So We need help from you as I would love to submit your name to the bank as
our late father's foreign business partner and transfer this money to
your account for investment purpose and help us get our traveling papers
which we shall use to come to your country for the investment of the money
and the continuation of our education.
In respect to what our late mother told us, we are willing to give you 20%
of the money after the transfer of the money is completed and the rest will
be invested in good business, which you shall serve as the overseer while
we continue our education.
We await your reply and in order to give you more explanation on the issue.
God bless you as we await your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Michael and Ndri.

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