419 scam: "Mr. John"<mahon@peggy.com> Dearest Beloved,

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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:

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:
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- ",000,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. John" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <carnegie65731@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2018 12:00:45 +0200
Subject: Dearest Beloved,

Dearest Beloved,

I went through your contact and have these great feelings to contact you with a strong commission which I wish to entrust to you.

I am ill and will die. I am John Carnegie a cancer patient suffering from terminal cancer of the lungs. Recently, my Doctor told me that I would not last for the next 1 month.

Having known my condition, I decided to donate some part of my inheritance in the amount of of Nine Million Dollars (US$9,000,000.00) to a church, organisation or good person that will utilise this money in good faith to help the poor and the less privileged instead of forfeiting the funds when I am no more.

I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money. I was married with my late wife without a child.

If you are willing to use this gift to help the poor and less privileged reply and once I have your response, I will submit your details to the probate registry to enable them establish a deed of will documents on your name as my appointed beneficiary and after that I will instruct them to send the free funds donation to you.

Reply if interested to enable me guide you on how to receive the free gift.

May God bless you

Sincerely.

John Carnegie

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam