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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: "Mrs. Mathilda Barimah" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <barimahmathilda@rocketmail.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:10:08 +0200
Subject: Hello Dear

Hello Dear,

Pardon my intrusion; my name is Mrs. Mathilda Barimah and I am writing from Khartoum in Sudan on behalf of my family.
Please, out of desperation I am writing to you, so I will beg you to please consider this message because it is important for me and my family.
In the past seven years, I and my late husband have been kidnapped and released, robbed in several occasions because of who we are as foreigners that have come to invest in Agriculture in this country.
Between January and early march we have experienced the greatest problems with our properties especially our farms because of the law of the country which also gives the local authority some powers over land and this have brought so much problems to us that also lead to the death of my late husband.
Please, I am writing you because of my present health situation and the fact that I cannot fight any more because my children are very young, so I have decided to find a suitable person who can help us receive some of our funds and help us relocate.
The banking policy here has not enabled us to save funds from the sale of our machines and properties, so we intend to move our fund little by little abroad for investment and we need your utmost honesty and cooperation in this matter.
Please, consider this proposal and let me know if there is any way you can be of help to I and my children, you can better reach me back with this email address: mathilda_bar@hotmail.com and also include your Full names, phone number and current residential address. so I can reach you back because there is a lot to discuss.
Thank you and once again pardon my intrusion.
Yours sincerely
Mrs. Mathilda Barimah

Anti-fraud resources: