419 scam: "Mr. Kofi Mensah"<noreply@22office.com> Business / Investments.

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- kofi.u.mensah@hotmail.com (Hotmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Kofi Mensah" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <kofi.u.mensah@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 28 May 2019 13:25:46 -0400
Subject: Business / Investments.

Dear friend,

My name is Mr. Kofi Mensah, I’m a representative to (Mr. Bashir Saled And Mr. Abu Rish) a formal personal Banker and petroleum director to Formal Libya president (Late Mr. Muammar Gaddafi).

I'm writing to inform you about our intentions, we have $1 Billion for investment in your country or any other country of your choice where you think the money will be safe under your roof for investment, please kindly get back to me for further discussion. You can get further details of the fund by checking the website below. (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/02/gaddafis-banker-saleh-south-africa).

Presently the $1 billion is in the safekeeping here in Accra, Ghana also we have (1,600 kg Gold) and all the security arrangement to lift from here to your destination as soon as you are ready for the investment are in place. Please, kindly state your choice of interest by writing back to my direct email: (kofi.u.mensah@hotmail.com) for further details.

Regard,

Mr. Kofi Mensah
Email: kofi.u.mensah@hotmail.com

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam