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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: "Mrs. Sarah Bandah Buttersworth" <sally_nurse@hmamail.com>
Reply-To: <sarahbandah@hmamail.com>
Date: Fri, 9 May 2014 12:31:41 -0000
Subject: Dear faithful in the Lord

Dear faithful in Christ,


I know that this letter may be a very big surprise to you, I came across your email contact from my personal search and I decided to email you and I believe that you will be honest to fulfill my l wishes for me.


I am Mrs. Sarah Bandah Buttersworth from Nigera. I am 59 years old and have been widowed for eleven months now. I was married to my late husband Mr. Greg Buttersworth for twenty years.


My husband and I were true believers and we lived for the past fifteen years in Jos, Plateau State in Northern Nigeria where he worked for a mining company. He was also an evangelist with the Church of God Mission Inc. He was killed last year June when by Boko Haram militants when he went for an outreach program of our church in Borno. The militants attacked the church he was ministering to during an all night prayer worship program on Friday, June 7th 2013.

Since his death my health has deteriorated badly. Because of my health challenges I sold liquidated my late husband’s holdings here and decided to give the money to somebody who will continue with my husband’s aspirations which is to propagate the word of our Lord Jesus. It is a calling that he has lived for during the last decade and half of his life. That is why I am emailing you today my friend. I am too weak in the body and too broken in spirit to continue with his work and I do not have any children that can keep the flame alive.

I am presently in the National Hospital Abuja undergoing treatment. It is my fervent wish to see that this will come to fruition so that the words of our Lord Jesus will continue to be propagated till HE comes to take us away to HIS promised Kingdom in Heaven.


This was a very hard decision to take but I had to take a bold step towards these issue because I have no other option. My husband is a Briton, which under the Inheritance laws of Nigeria will mean that most of his Estate will be taxed unless it is donated to a charitable cause or organization. I have decided that I want to use the money to carry on with the life work of my late husband which was the propagation of the word of our Lord in Heaven and helping the poor and the needy in our society. Please if you can utilize this money to spread the word of God and also help the poor and the needy in your society then you are the person I am looking for.

I await your reply

Yours sincerely,

Mrs. Sarah Bandah Buttersworth.

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