419 scam: "Mrs. Victoria Douglas" <cfo@gofba.com> My Dear Beloved Friend

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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:
- "money laundering" ("anti-terrorist", "anti-money laundering" or "drug-free" certificates are a common way for criminals in fake lottery scams and other Advance Fee scams to get you to send money to them. There are no such certificates in the real banking world. )
- "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)
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs. Victoria Douglas" <cfo@gofba.com>
Reply-To: <victoriadouglas1963@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 16:25:00 +0100
Subject: My Dear Beloved Friend

Dear Beneficiary,

I hope this email finds you in a convenient condition.

On behalf of Christine Lagarde, the IMF director and at large, I am Andew Tweedie, Director Finance Department, International Monetary Fund - IMF. Also, i have been authorized to contact you.

First, we introduce this commission, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF), we fight cyber crime, Internet fraud, scam and money laundering in any part of the world, Our commission has been in existences since 2002 and our duty is to stop internet fraud.

The Leaders of the World Crime fighters, and (IMF) has come together to informing the world what is going on and we have recovered over $522 Million dollars (Five Hundred and Twenty two million dollars) from the fraudsters around the world.

However, these body IMF had a meeting and have concluded in compensating you the victim with the amount of $8.3 million dollars. The reason we are writing you this letter is to reconfirm your full information and our aim is to refund all lost fund to its legitimate owner through our paying bank here in the U.S.

I will look forward to reading from you which will enable us proceed further to releasing your fund to your designated bank account upon receiving your quick reply.

regards,

Andrew Tweedie

Director Finance Department

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam