• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Opinions about the scammers and their victims
  
• Domains registered by 419 scammers
  
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam
  
• Names of people mentioned in 419 spam
  
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Google search: Dead foreigner scam emails
  
• Fake Nigerian bank deposit certificate (JPEG, 200 KB)
  

The civil war in Sierra Leone, West Africa is often woven into storylines used by advance fee fraud ("419") scammers. Usually the person sending the spam will claim to be the widow, son or daughter of a murdered former member of government or businessman from that country, now living as a refugee in Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, South Africa, Nigeria or Europe. He/she will seek help in retrieving a secret stash of money, diamonds or other valuables stored with a security company in another country.

The scam victim is expected to pay various expenses necessary to retrieve the stash. He/she is supposed to be rewarded by a large percentage of the treasure when deal is complete. In reality the treasure does not exists and the scammers are only after those advance payments from a gullible person.

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Example:

From: "SAMSON BAMOGU"
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 23:55
Subject: BUSINESS OFFER

Dear Sir,
I wish you go through this offer to consider being my partner.I am Mr.SAMSON BAMOGU .,from the republic of Sierra-Leone in west Africa,now seeking political asylum in Senegal under the (UNHCR).I got your contact through my search for a business partner.
In Details.My late father (Dr.MUSTAPHA BAMOGU) was the managing director of Rainbow Gold Diamond Mining company in (KEN EMA) Sierra- Leone.But was killed during the longing civil war and all his properties was totally destroyed.However, we managed to escape with some of my father's precious Diamonds which is presently deposited safely in a security and finance company here in Dakar. Now we are saddled with the problem of securing a trust worthy foreign personality to help us transfer the diamonds over to his country pending my arrival to meet with him.Furthermore,we only want this done this way because your country is politically stable for any profitable investment and if you accept our proposal,you will serve as the beneficiary of the diamonds.
I am giving you the offers as mentioned with every confidence on your acceptance to assist us,we have decided to give you 10% out of the total money generated from the sales of the diamonds.Secondly,we shall mapped out 2% for any miscellaneous expenses that you may incur during the transferring of the diamonds over to your country. Finally,the diamond weight in question is 14.550 Carats.Conclusively,i wish you send me a reply immediately as soon as you receive this proposal, so that we shall arrange on how to lift this consignment out of Dakar Senegal to your country.
On commencement,this transaction will take (7) working days to be accomplished.A certificate of ownership, and the Lab-test result certificate of the diamonds would be fax to you immediately i receive your urgent and positive reply. My alternative email address is ([email protected] </ym/[email protected]>) Until theni remain with the best regards.
Regards,
Samson.

Now let's take a look how this got here:

Received: from [213.154.88.78] (helo=ok6606.com)
	by vmx10.############## with smtp (Exim 4.43)
	id 1CTiE7-0000Bq-GJ; Mon, 15 Nov 2004 15:53:07 +0100
From: "SAMSON BAMOGU" <[email protected]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 14:55:35 +0000
Subject: BUSINESS OFFER
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6900 DM
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
X-MailScanner-SpamCheck: spam, SpamAssassin (score=22.749,
	required 5, BAYES_99 1.89, DATE_IN_FUTURE_24_48 2.31,
	DEAR_SOMETHING 1.58, FORGED_MUA_OUTLOOK 3.92,
	FROM_HAS_ULINE_NUMS 0.06, MIME_QP_LONG_LINE 0.04,
	MISSING_HEADERS 0.12, MSGID_FROM_MTA_HEADER 0.05,
	MSGID_FROM_MTA_ID 1.72, NIGERIAN_BODY1 3.40, NIGERIAN_BODY2 0.60,
	RATWARE_OE_MALFORMED 2.59, RCVD_IN_SORBS_SPAM 2.00,
	SUBJ_ALL_CAPS 0.67, URG_BIZ 1.81)
X-MailScanner-From: [email protected]

Here's the network for IP 213.154.88.78:

     inetnum:      213.154.70.0 - 213.154.89.255
     netname:      SONATEL-Rx70-Rx89
     descr:        SONATEL - National Telecom Company
     descr:        INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER
     descr:        SENEGAL
     country:      SN
     admin-c:      MN1281-RIPE
     admin-c:      GN261-RIPE
     tech-c:       SBT7-RIPE
     tech-c:       MN1281-RIPE
     tech-c:       AT1281-RIPE
     status:       ASSIGNED PA
     notify:       [email protected]
     mnt-by:       SMM-MNT
     mnt-lower:    SMM-MNT
     changed:      [email protected] 20041216
     source:       RIPE
     
     person:       Gaidy Ndaw
     address:      Sonatel
     address:      Direction des Reseaux
     address:      6 Rue Wagane DIOUF
     address:      BP 69 Dakar
     address:      SENEGAL
     phone:        +221 822 80 63
     fax-no:       +221 842 30 57
     nic-hdl:      GN261-RIPE
     e-mail:       [email protected]
     notify:       [email protected]
     changed:      [email protected] 20031006
     source:       RIPE
     
     person:       Mody Ndiaye
     address:      SOCIETE NATIONALES DES TELECOMMUNICATIONS
     address:      Sonatel Multimedia
     address:      Dakar
     address:      Senegal
     e-mail:       [email protected]
     phone:        +221 869 97 15
     fax-no:       +221 860 01 64
     nic-hdl:      MN1281-RIPE
     notify:       [email protected]
     mnt-by:       SMM-MNT
     changed:      [email protected] 20030926
     source:       RIPE
     
     person:       Seydou Bocar THIAM
     address:      SOCIETE NATIONALES DES TELECOMMUNICATIONS
     address:      Direction des Reseaux
     address:      6 Rue Wagane DIOUF
     address:      BP 69 Dakar
     address:      SENEGAL
     phone:        +221 839 23 39
     fax-no:       +221 839 22 36
     e-mail:       [email protected]
     nic-hdl:      SBT7-RIPE
     notify:       [email protected]
     changed:      [email protected] 20031008
     source:       RIPE
     
     person:       Amadou Toure
     address:      SOCIETE NATIONALES DES TELECOMMUNICATIONS
     address:      Sonatel Multimedia
     address:      Dakar
     address:      Senegal
     e-mail:       [email protected]
     phone:        +221 869 97 10
     fax-no:       +221 860 01 64
     nic-hdl:      AT1281-RIPE
     notify:       [email protected]
     mnt-by:       SMM-MNT
     changed:      [email protected] 20030919
     source:       RIPE

This one was sent five weeks later. Now the spam is sent from the address previously used as a maildrop and another free email address is used as a maildrop, plus a phone number in Senegal is now listed:

From: "SAMSON BAMOGU"
Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2004 03:35 Subject: BUSINESS OFFER

Dear Sir,
I wish you go through this offer to consider being my partner.I am Mr.SAMSON BAMOGU .,from the republic of Sierra-Leone in west Africa,now seeking political asylum in Senegal under the (UNHCR).I got your contact through my search for a business partner.
In Details.My late father (Dr.MUSTAPHA BAMOGU) was the managing director of Rainbow Gold Diamond Mining company in (KEN EMA) Sierra- Leone.But was killed during the longing civil war and all his properties was totally destroyed.However, we managed to escape with some of my father's precious Diamonds which is presently deposited safely in a security and finance company here in Dakar.
Now we are saddled with the problem of securing a trust worthy foreign personality to help us transfer the diamonds over to his country pending my arrival to meet with him.Furthermore,we only want this done this way because your country is politically stable for any profitable investment and if you accept our proposal,you will serve as the beneficiary of the diamonds.
I am giving you the offers as mentioned with every confidence on your acceptance to assist us,we have decided to give you 10% out of the total money generated from the sales of the diamonds.Secondly,we shall mapped out 2% for any miscellaneous expenses that you may incur during the transferring of the diamonds over to your country. Finally,the diamond weight in question is 14.550 Carats.Conclusively,i wish you send me a reply immediately as soon as you receive this proposal, so that we shall arrange on how to lift this consignment out of Dakar Senegal to your country.
On commencement,this transaction will take (7) working days to be accomplished.A certificate of ownership, and the Lab-test result certificate of the diamonds would be fax to you immediately i receive your urgent and positive reply. My alternative email address is ([email protected]) Untill then i remain with the best regards.
Regards,
Samson. (+221) 539-3221 ask for samson.

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