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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: Joshua Mbote <jmbote007@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2014 13:04:10 +0100
Subject: SEEKING YOUR ASSISTANCE IN INVESTMENT!!!

Kind day, my name is Mr. Joshua Mbote, I am from Ghana. I was the chairman
of Ghana mining and drilling corporation. Naturally this mail will come to
you as a surprise since we have not known or met each other before, but I
repose my trust in you.

I had a friend called Mr. Bill Burton, an oil magnate who always comes from
Britain to purchase crude oil through my assistance. He always come with
millions of dollars for his business which I always help him to deposit in
a finance company pending when he will need it for his business.

In the last visit of Mr. Burton, he had problems with the federal authority
because his vessel was caught
loading crude oil in the high sea without authorized license. He was
subsequently arrested and detained. I went for his release through my
lawyer, and immediately he regained his freedom, he ran away from Ghana
without informing me or my lawyer.

Valuable efforts I have made so far to locate his where about proved
abortive. When I called his home phone number, the receiver told me that
Mr. Burton, his wife and his only child died in motor accident since last
year and warned me not to call the number again. Based on my inability to
produce Mr. Burton when needed in the court as it was stipulated in his
bail bond which I signed, court ordered for my detention under house arrest
since last year till this present moment pending when I will produce Mr.
Burton to come and answer his case.

Before Mr. Burton ran away, he left behind the money he deposited in the
finance house totaling $35.5 million U.S Dollars cash. I have the necessary
documents to clear the money which I can forward to you on demand.

Reason for evacuation of the money

Latest information reaching me says that the finance company where the
money was deposited want to relocate to unknown destination, based on this
fact, I have made up my mind to relocate the money. In other to achieve my
aims, I decided to write you seeking your assistance. Mind you that my
detention under house arrest has noting to do with this money since not
even the finance company knows that the contents of the box is money,
because it was deposited in pretense as containing bonds\stocks. For
further clarifications on how to carry out the business, feel free to
contact me through this e-mail address. Waiting for your kind response

Regards,
Mr. Joshua Mbote

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