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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: HELLEN IBRAHIM <hellen.ibrahim@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: helen_i2010@yahoo.co.jp
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:20:09 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: From: Mrs Helen Ibrahim,


From: Mrs Helen Ibrahim,
 
I am the above named person from Kuwait. I am married to Mr. Mike Ibrahim, who worked with Kuwait embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before dying in 2007.We were married for twenty years without a child. He died after a brief illness that lasted only four days,
 
Before his death we were both born-again Christians and his family was against us because we are formally Muslims. I have the sum of ($4.5m)four million five hundred thausand dollars, USD. in the bank here in Abidjan in suspense account which i inherited from my late husband. Recently, i have serious sickness which is cancer problem and one that disturbs me most is my stroke sickness which almost deformed me.Having known my condition and as a good Christian I decided to donate this fund to a church or individual that will use this money the way I am going to instruct here
 
.To help, orphanages, widows, propagating the word of God. I took this decision because I don’t have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are not Christians.My happiness is that I lived a life of a worthy Christian.Any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing another church or individual for this same purpose. Hoping to receive your reply,
 
Remain blessed in the Lord
Yours in Christ,
Mrs. Helen Ibrahim

Anti-fraud resources: