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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: Warren Buffett <re6206812@gmail.com>
Reply-To: bfdation3@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2022 05:13:28 +0100
Subject: Your email has won you $4.8m

Dear Elect,

My name is Warren Edward Buffett, A philanthropist, the chairman and
CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, one of the largest private foundations in
the world. Having pledged to give away 99 percent of my fortune to
philanthropic causes via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. I
founded the giving pledge in 2009 with Bill Gates, whereby
billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their fortunes. I
believe strongly in giving while living and I had one idea that never
left in my mind which is use your wealth to help people and I have
decided to give Four Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars to
randomly selected individuals worldwide to help Citizens fight against
poverty and COVID -19.

On receipt of this email, you should count yourself as one of the
lucky individuals. Your email was chosen online while searching for
random. Kindly get back to me at your earliest convenience so I know
your email is still valid.

Regards,
Warren Edward Buffett
American business magnate
CEO Berkshire Hathaway

Anti-fraud resources: