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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 <jonathanbright277@gmail.com>
Reply-To: bfdation3@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2022 15:52:14 +0100
Subject: Congratulations!

Attn,

My name is Warren Edward Buffett, 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 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
$4,800,000.00 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
CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

Anti-fraud resources: