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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: "Warren Edward Buffett" <aviation@flychicago.com>
Reply-To: warrenedwardbuffett0@firemail.de
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2024 13:16:34 -0800
Subject: [3.9] Hello,

Hello,

My name is Warren Edward Buffet, an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Chair and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Been considered one of the most successful investors in the world with a net worth of over $100.6 billion as of April 2021. I believe strongly in ‘giving while living’ I have one idea that never changes in my mind that you should use your wealth to help people around the world and I have decided to donate this amount through our Sunshine Lady Humanitarian Grants Program to give out {$800,000.00} to randomly selected individuals worldwide. On receipt of this email, you should count yourself as one of the lucky individuals. Your email address has been selected online while searching at random.

Kindly get back to me at a suitable time

(Receiver's name)...
(Country)....
(Home Address)....
(Phone Number)...
(occupation)

Regards,

Warren Edward Buffett

Anti-fraud resources: