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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: "Paul Kofi Smith " <paulsmitth.info3@gmail.com>
Reply-To: paulsmitth.info4@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2023 04:07:15 +0000
Subject: Have a Blessed Weekend

Sir,

I am sure this letter will come to you as a surprise because I the writer have not in any way come in close contact with you except that my search for a good and reliable person I could confine on to carry out successfully a little business I have at hand.

However, scam emails that people send to various individuals and companies on the internet have also made it so impossible for one to do business reliably with other internet users all over the world. I solicit and hope that this letter will not be considered treated like one of those letters.

My name is Mr. Paul Kofi Smith. I am the regional manager of the Standard Chartered Bank of Ghana Takoradi Branch in the western region of Ghana. I write you this proposal in good faith, I am a man of peace. I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit you and me, as the regional manager of the Standard Chartered Bank it is my duty to send in a financial report to my head office in the capital city Accra at the end of each business year.

In the course of the year 2019 business report, I discovered that my branch in which I am the manager made Three Million Seven hundred and thirty thousand united state dollars which my head office is not aware of and will never be aware of.

I have placed these funds on what we call the ESCROW CALL ACCOUNT with no beneficiary. As an officer of this bank, I cannot be directly connected to this money, so my aim in contacting you is to assist me to receive this money in your bank account and get 40% of the total funds as a commission.

There are practically no risks involved, it will be a bank-to-bank transfer, and all I need from you is to stand claim as the original depositor of these funds who made the deposit with my branch so that my head office can order the transfer to your designated bank account.

Thank you in advance for your kind and urgent response, more so for keeping our proposal to yourself.

FULL NAME...…..

ADDRESS...….

AGE...…..

SEX...…..

OCCUPATION...….

MARITAL STATUS...…

TELEPHONE/FAX NUMBER...…

Best regards,
Mr. Paul Kofi Smith

Anti-fraud resources: