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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: Ann Smith <mrs.jennefferwalf@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2022 02:05:04 -0800
Subject: I NEED YOUR HELP

--
My decision to contact you is because i have been recently diagnosed
with Lungs Cancer and the doctor said i have less than 2 months to
live. Since this sudden news was announced to me, i have been
reflecting over my life in the past It is painful that after over 29
years of peaceful marriage with my late husband Smith, we lost the
only child that would have inherited our numerous wealth In the past,
i have made reasonable donations to the victims of Earthquake in Haiti
and recently to the same victims in Japan and Thailand Now that my
health is gradually deteriorating, I cannot continue to do all these
by myself any more I strongly desire to reach out to the poor and
needy people, but I would prefer to continue this with the assistance
of a kind person I want you to answer the following questions: (1) are
you a God fearing person? (2) If i donate 5.5 Five Million five
Hundred Thousand United States Dollars to you, will you be able to
utilize it wisely to achieve my heart desire of supporting poor people
around you? (3)Will you open a charity foundation in the name of my
husband and 1? I want you to set up a motherless baby’s home in my
memorial when i am gone, then keep 30% for your effort, please reply
me as soon as possible on this email address (
mrs.annsmith111@outlook.com )

Anti-fraud resources: