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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: John Koffi <koffi1j@outlook.com>
Reply-To: <koffi2j@outlook.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2015 22:59:45 +0000
Subject: Greetings


Greetings,
I must express my proposal without reservation and I wish to tell you that I have contacted you because of a business of 50kg of Gold / precious metal presently deposited in my company’s vault.I want you to try and understand me and also place your self in my position as a vault manager of a safe keeping company.Your last name attracted me to contact you and because my late client beard the same last name with you, i just need to know if I can trust this whole amount of Gold into your care for sale and we share the proceed %50/%50.The depositor of the Gold bullion in question died four years Ago and my company is not aware of this, he is a foreigner and have the same last name with you,but he entrusted all his access covering documents under my care, I am requesting that you will stand as his relative/partner, so that we can process the release to you, this will only be known by both of us ,as you need to maintain absolute secret about it.I am assuring you of 100% success and legal coverage because I will also stand to attest that you are his relative since I am the oldest serving staff in the company.I want you to check this thoroughly and get back to me, I am ready to release the certificate of Deposit for you to go through, I will implore you to have this deal accomplish with me and we need an urgent move to secure this transaction.I will wait to hear from you.Thanks,Sincerely,John Koffi

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