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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: "Bright Appiah" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bright.appiah@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 2011 19:51:43 +0100
Subject: Dear Friend(01/06/2011).

Dear Friend,


You may be surprised to receive this offer since we have no previous communications. I write to solicit your assistance in a funds transfer deal involving US$10.5M.

This fund accrued as undeclared profit made last year by this branch of the International Commercial Bank which I head.

My head office here in Accra-Ghana has already approved my Management Profitability Report for the year 2009/10 which further secures this fund.
This amount of US$ 10,500,000.00 currently floats on a Non-Investment Account without a beneficiary.

Upon your response, I will configure your name on the database of the entire International Commercial Bank as holder of the Non-Investment Account housing the funds. I will then guide you on how to apply to my head office for the Account Closure/ bank-to-bank remittance of the funds to your designated bank account.

If you concur with this proposal, I intend for you to retain 40% of the funds while 60% shall be for me. Feel free to call me on my cell number +2332 6745 9598 Here is my private email mrbrightapp@aol.com you can contact me through it
Sincerely,
Bright Appiah


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