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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: Vina Decubo <mrs.vinadecubo@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2022 08:52:10 +0200
Subject:


Greetings
I pray this email finds you in good health. I would like to confide in you
for your honesty and truth for progress. My name is Mrs. Vina Decubo from
South Africa, suffering from Cancer and I don’t have a child of my own due
to poor health from a 42 years period of married life, my late husband was
wealthy and after his death, I inherited his business and money in the
bank. The doctor has advised me that I may not live long and warns me to
stop thinking over who is going to inherit my money.
Based on that, today I have decided to donate and contribute to the less
privileged, charity homes, and orphanage homes. I am willing to donate
the sum of ($1.7 Million Dollars), to the less privileged of which you will
be responsible in taking care of the disbursement and sharing of this money
to the organizations,
Please I want you to note that this fund is still with one of the known
banks where my late husband deposited it. I am going to advise my lawyer to
change my last WILL to your name and file an application for the transfer
of the money in your name. Lastly, I honestly pray that this money when
transferred to your account will be used for the said purpose even though I
am late then or alive, because I have come to find out that wealth
acquisition is not always the final thing in life or death if you do not
help people as well when they need it.
I will provide you with more details after knowing your willingness to
handle the disbursement and sharing of this money to the organizations.
Thanks and God bless.
Mrs. Vina Decubo

Anti-fraud resources: