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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: robert odey <robert_odey038@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <robert_odey@myway.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:26:05 +0100
Subject: For your consideration



Dear Friend, I wish to inform you that this mail is not a hoax mail and I urge you to treat it with seriousness.My name is Mr Robert Odey,a manager with one of the commercial banks in Acrra-Ghana west Africa.I have packaged a transaction that will be of mutual benefit to us. As the branch manager of the Bank Ghana, it is my duty to send a financial report to my head office in the capital city, Accra, at the end of each financial year. Following the release of the second quarter financial report, that ended in June 2006, I discovered that my branch made a substantial profit which accrued from the account of the Inland Revenue Service (IRS). This was not detected by the internal auditors from my head office. I have diverted the funds into what the bank call Escrow Call Account with no beneficiary. Meanwhile as you know I can not be directly connected to this money for obvious reasons. So my contacting you is for you to assist me receive this fund in your in your country which I know is possible if you liaise properly with me and get a consideration share of the total funds as your benefit. The transfer would be a Bank-to-Bank transaction. All I need from you is to stand claim as the original depositor of this fund. I will compute your particulars as the person who made the deposit in my branch into our computer data base, so that my head office will immediately order the transfer to your designated bank Account. Thanks for your understanding and co-operation. Please you can indicate your interest by sending me a return mail. While I implore you to maintain the absolute secrecy and confidentiality required in this transaction I am waiting for your positive response.Yours truly,
Mr Robert Odey
_________________________________________________________________
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