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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 Ruth Hopewell" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ruthopewell4help@qq.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2015 06:59:12 -0800
Subject: May God Bless You

God Bless You as You Devote Your Time Reading This Mail
 
May God Bless You as You read. I am Mrs Ruth Hopewell,suffering from
cancerous ailment.
 
I was married to Mr.Brian Hopewell ,my husband worked with Chevron/Texaco in the United Kingdom for twenty years before he died in the year 2013 during the Spanish train crash which took him away from me. copy paste the link below for news info on edition.cnn.com/2013/07/30/world/europe/spain-train-crash  My late husband deposited the sum of $ 17.5 Million (Seventeen Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars) with a Bank in United Kingdom.
 
Recently,I am currently in India for the past two months undergoing treatment and my Doctor told me that I have limited days to live due to the stroke and cancerous problems I am suffering from.I have decided to donate this funds to charity Home through you and want you to use my husbands effort to fund the upkeep of widows and charities worldwide.
 
I took this decision because I do not have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are bourgeois and very wealthy persons and I do not want my husband hard earned money to be misused so In This Faith i have decided so please be Obliged to do this for GOD as i Await your urgent reply.
 
via my email.address: ruthopewell4help@qq.com
With God all things are possible.
Your Sister in Christ,
Mrs Ruth Hopewell
 
This message and any associated files (together the “Contents”) are intended solely for the addressee(s). The Contents are confidential and may contain private information or information that is subject to copyright or is a trade secret or which is privileged. Views or opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent views or opinions of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, its agents or their affiliated companies and may only be the view or opinion of the author. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must not use, print, copy, store, forward, or disclose it or act in reliance of the Contents. Please destroy all copies of the message and any associated files and notify the sender immediately that you have received it in error. Thank you for your cooperation.
 

Anti-fraud resources: