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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: "Mr Moses" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mmr7300@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 07:04:49 -0000
Subject: GET BACK TO ME

My Good friend,

Greetings to you

Before I introduce myself, I wish to inform you that this mail is not a hoax mail and I urge you to treat it with seriousness. This letter must come to you as a big surprise, but I believe it is only a day that people meet and become great friends and business partners. My name is Mr. Moses Kofi, I am a banker here in Ghana. I got your contact from the internet during my search for a reliable partner. I need your help to transfer USD$7,500,000.00 dollars.

The money is part of the profits from our bank last year (i.e. 2015). I have already submitted annual report for last year to my bank head quarters in Accra - Ghana, and they did not notice the excess profits. I deposited the USD$7,500,000.00 dollars in an escrow account without a beneficiary (Anonymous), to avoid any trace.

I cannot be directly connected to this money because I still work with the bank. So, I need your help to transfer this money to your country for us to share. I offer you 40% of this money as my foreign partner and 60% would be for me. There is no risk involved because it will be a bank-to-bank transfer. All I need from you is to stand as my foreign partner and owner of the money to enable you present a foreign bank account where the money will be transferred to.

If you accept this proposal, I am prepared to go into partnership with you. Please kindly reply to me for more information on how to proceed. my private email is mmr7300@gmail.com

Sincerely,
Mr. Moses

Anti-fraud resources: