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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: Esther Godwill <esthergodwill25@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Esther Godwill <esthergodwill25@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 21:19:36 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Urgent message donation project from Esther / My name is Mrs. Esther Godwill nationality of Canada based in my adoptive Country Ivory coast. Actually I have donation project to offer you which what 4.7 million us Dollars. But before will proceed I would like to hear from you Thanks Mrs. Esther Godwill


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Anti-fraud resources: