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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: Dr Matthew Ankoma <dr_matthew_ankoma@live.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 14:10:26 +0000
Subject: Urgent Attention


Hello,

Nice to meet you. I beg your indulgence to kindly attend
to this mail in good faith. I do not mean any disrespect by approaching
you through this medium, it is due to the urgency of the matter. My name
is Dr. Matthew Ankoma ; I am an accountant in the department of Ministry
of Roads and Highways Ghana. Also I am a member of contracts awarding
committee of this ministry under Ghana government. I write to solicit
your assistance in a funds transfer deal involving US$8,500,000.00.

Two
years ago, Ghana government asked my committee to award contracts to
foreign firms, which I and my colleague with our good position,
deliberately over invoiced the contract sum to the tune of
US$8,500,000:00 .The contract’s value has been paid off to the actual
contractors that executed these jobs, all I want now is a trusted
foreign partner like you that we shall front with the banking account
number to Claim the over inflated sum.

All I require is your
honest cooperation and confidence in me which I know would not come
easy. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate
background that will protect you from any breach of the law. I would
advise that you give this positive consideration and get back to me
soon.

I'll be flexible and considerate in the percentage share
that will be given to you for your assistance I know there may be scams
and junk mails on the internet but certainly, this is not one.

Please
do not fail to understand that in spite of all that, opportunities of
this kind still abound. If you have ever wished or prayed for something
good to come your way, now I urge you to take this message seriously and
with an open mind, you could never know. This may be an answer to your
prayers. Please do acknowledge your acceptance by replying, so that i
will detail you on how we can execute this deal properly.


I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.


Thanks and god Bless.

Yours sincerely,
Dr. Matthew Ankoma

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