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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Christy Walton <sophiabryant21@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrschwalton1949@usa.com
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2017 21:12:00 +0300
Subject: RE:

My dearest,

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and may
the peace of the Lord be with you as you read this letter. My name is
Christy Walton and I am an American Citizen, I am a widow and a business
woman. I have recently been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and a rare
heart disease which has defiled all medical treatment. Expert diagnosis has
shown that I have few days to live. I am worth $41.7 Billion US Dollars
which I inherited from my late husband Mr. John T. Walton which rates me as
the First richest woman in the world.

The intention of this email is to employ the expertise of a Charity minded
individual, who can identify a viable and guarantee reasonable distribution
of my wealth to the needy. I cannot rely on family and closest relatives
anymore as they did not show responsible behavior when I entrusted part of
my wealth to them to distribute to charitable organizations but instead
they used the money for their personal needs.

To prevent any more mishaps, my attorney will act as a check, monitoring
every aspect of the Charity. My will is with my Lawyer which my family is
fully aware of, but there is 5% of my Bank Worth which is ($2,085,000000.00
USD) which nobody is aware of except my attorney.

Do get back to me as soon as you receive this email for further details.
Please endeavor to keep this confidential. I await your response.

God bless you.
Mrs. Christy Walton

Anti-fraud resources: