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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: "James Appiah" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <james.appiah4@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2012 23:30:35 -0800
Subject: ACCRUED BANK INTEREST

Hello Dear,

I write to solicit your assistance in a fund transfer deal involving US$ 3.3M. This fund has been stashed out of the excess profit made last year by my branch office where I head as the Manager and I have already submitted an approved end of the last year report for the year 2011 to my head office here in Accra-Ghana and they will never know of this excess. I have since then, placed this amount on a Sundry Escrow Account without a beneficiary.

In essence, I need a trustworthy foreigner like you who will stand as the original depositor of this fund, so that the fund will be transferred to your private or company account immediately.

This transaction is bank to bank transfer and no risk involve. I will use my position to influence this project in other to expedite the transfer by our bank head office. You will have 35% of the total sum, 5% for expenses incurred during the conclusion of this transaction while 60% for me.

I wait for your positive response for more details and the next step to proceed.
Regards,
James Appiah

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