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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: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:21:30 -0600
Subject: From Eric



Dear,

I am optimistic to request for your consent in a mutual international business
relationship between you and i. My name is Eric Mensah from Ghana republic,
I got your contact from the web while searching for investment opportunity.

I am a civil servant who realized ($3.5 million) Through the sale of our
allocated oil quota in OPEC from commission payouts through my tenure as the Head
of Delegation to the World Bank in West Africa.

I want you to assist me in investing this fund in real estate and commercial
properties or any other profitable venture you are familiar with
since as a civil servant I cannot have such funds and the code of conduct bureau
forbids me to acquire such amount of money.

Upon your consent to this request i will send my
proposal and we will discuss in details. i will equally like to procure the
change of ownership or statutory declaration for fund legalization from the law
court making you the original beneficiary of the fund,which i will send to
you.Thank you for giving me your time, am hoping for a friendly response.please
furnish me with your telephone number for me to explain through phone, you can
reach me directly to my private email address, eric_mensah@live.com

Regards,

Mr.Eric Mensah






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