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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "John Thomas Kofi" <johnthomaskofi55@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Jan 2023 14:29:55 +0900
Subject: Best regards




Best regards!

This mail may be a surprise to you because you did not give me the
permission to do so and neither do you know me but before I tell you about
myself I want you to please forgive me for sending this mail without your
permission. I am writing this letter in confidence believing that if it is
the will of God for you to help me and my family, God almighty will bless
and reward you abundantly. I need an honest and trustworthy person like
you to entrust this huge transfer project unto.

My name is Mr. John Thomas kofi, The Branch Manager of a Financial
Institution. I got your contact through a reliable source called database
through Ghana chamber of commerce. I am a Ghanaian married with 3 kids. I
am writing to solicit your assistance in the transfer of US$14,500,000.00
Dollars. This fund is the excess of what my branch in which I am the
manager made as profit this year (i.e. 2022 financial year). I have
submitted an annual report for this year to my head office on the 23rd
December Accra-Ghana, I watched with keen interest as they never knew of
this excess. I placed this amount of US$14,500,000.00 Dollars on an Escrow
Coded account without a beneficiary (Anonymous) to avoid a trace.

As an officer of the bank, I cannot be directly connected to this money
thus I am impelled to request for your assistance to receive this money
into your bank account on my behalf. I agree that 40% of this money will
be for you as a foreign partner, in respect to the provision of a foreign
account, and 60% would be for me and I will join you in your country once
the fund arrives in your account for an Investment plan. I do need to
stress that there is practically no risk involved in this. It's going to
be a bank-to-bank transfer OR E-online Transfer. All I need from you is to
stand as the original depositor of this fund so that the fund can be
transferred to your account.

If you accept this offer, I will appreciate your timely response to me.
This is why and the only reason why I contacted you, I am willing to go
into partnership investment with you owing to your wealth of experience,
So please if you are interested to assist on this venture kindly contact
me back for a brief discussion on how to proceed.

Best regards,
Mr. John Thomas kofi,

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