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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: "Douglas Tetteh" <tetteh.douglas4@gmail.com>
Reply-To: douglas.tetteh51@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 06:59:45 +0000
Subject:


Dear Sir,

First and foremost, I must solicit your strictest confidence in this
transaction and i pray that my decision to contact you will be given genuine
approval considering the fact that we have not known each other before now.
I wish to use this opportunity to introduce myself to you. I am Douglas
Tetteh from Sudan, I am 26 years old. I write to inform you about my desire
to invest and to buy a living house in your country. I am the first son of
Mr. David Tetteh. My father was a diamond/gold merchant in Sudan before his
untimely death. My father was shot and killed by the Sudan rebels on his way
traveling out of country with two of my younger sister's due to Present
political crisis that is taking place in our country Sudan.

My sisters died on the spot while U.N. peace keeping force rescued my
father. He was taken to hospital for medical treatment where he later died.
Before he died he revealed to me and my mother about a trunk box containing
12,000.000 million us dollars [twelve million u.s.dollars] which he
deposited with a security company in Ghana for safe keeping. My father did
not disclose the content of the trunk box to the security company. Instead,
he deposited it as family treasures. Presently my mother and I are here in
Ghana to notify the security company for the claims, and we are staying in
the refugee camp. I am contacting you for an assistant to secure this claim,
with regard, i will also want you to advise me on how best we can invest
this money. My father told me that it is dangerous to invest this money in
Africa to avoid suspicions, and due to market instability coupled with
economic and political instability facing African countries.

That is why we want to invest abroad. For your mutual assistance, my mother
and I have agreed that percentage will be share in a good faith. We have all
the vital documents covering the deposit and the ownership which i can send
to you through fax on request. Note: I have never disclosed this to any
person apart from you. So please, kindly keep this transaction as a top
secret to yourself alone. I am waiting for your urgent and positive
response.
Best regards,
Douglas Tetteh

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