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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: Mr Bill Gates <mettepeter76@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Billgatedonate61@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2023 22:57:39 +0100
Subject: Urgent attention

--
Greetings to You

You have been gifted $5 MILLION USD From Mr Bill Gates. Contact me at
this email for your claim:Billgatedonate61@gmail.com

I hope this information meet you well as I know you will be curious to
know why/how I selected you to receive a sum of $5,000,000,00 USD, our
information below is 100% legitimate, please see the link below:

www.cnet.com/news/bill-and-melinda-gates-top-forbes-list-as-most-philanthropic-americans/

I BILL GATES and my wife decided to donate the sum of $5,000,000,00
USD to you as part of our charity project to improve the 10 lucky
individuals all over the world from our $65 Billion Usd I and My Wife
Mapped out to help people. We prayed and searched over the internet
for assistance and I saw your profile on Microsoft emai…
Mr Bill Gates

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