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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: Nana Yaw Mensah <nanayawmensah0@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2017 02:43:12 +0100
Subject: Nana Yaw Mensah 28/02/2017


Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Mr.Nana Yaw Mensah,the principal treasury officer with one of the
prime banks in Ghana. I have decided to contact you through this medium
based on a business proposal, which will be of mutual benefit to both of
us. I discovered your email through comprehensive web email search on
directory so I decided to contact you. I know this might sound like scam to
you because of the activities going on in the INTERNET today. But you have
my assurance that God has located us.

I am the account manager to one of our late client, from your country, he
worked with an oil servicing company here in Ghana, the late client made a
numbered time (fixed) deposited for twelve calendar months, valued at
€16.5m(Sixteen Million Five Hundred Thousand Euro) in my branch. Upon
maturity, we sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got
no reply.

After a month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his
contract employers, Ghana Port Authority that our customer died from an
automobile accident. On further investigation, I found out that he did not
leave a will and all attempts to trace his next of kin were fruitless. I
therefore made further investigation and discovered that the deceased
person did not declare any next of kin in all his official documents,
including his bank deposit paperwork.

This sum of (€16.5m) is still sitting in the bank and the interest is
rolled over with the principal sum at the end of each year.
No one will come forward to claim it. According to the law of Ghana, at the
expiration of 9{nine} years, the money will be reverted to Ghana,
government if nobody claims it.

Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand
in as the next of kin to the deceased person for the fact that you have
same last name with him so that this money will not be reverted by the
government. If this request matches with your inward intention for success
and greatness, then you are urged to make a quick response indicating your
interest and readiness to participate and work with me to make this
successful.

Please observe utmost confidentiality, and be rest assured that this
transaction would be most profitable for both of us because I shall require
your assistance to invest my share in your country. In your return mail,
please do forward your information as listed below if you are willing to
complete this transaction with me, to enable me put the total fund in your
name for claim as the next of kin to the deceased person:

Your full name:
Your contact address:
Your phone number:
Your age/Occupation:

I wait for your urgent reply.

Regards.

Mr.Nana Yaw Mensah.

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