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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 Mathilda Godwin" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mathilda.godwin@yandex.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2016 20:25:39 -0000
Subject: Dear Friend

Dear Friend,
Greetings and compliments of the season. I have decided to contact you due to the irrevocable circumstance that I find myself in, which has left me with no other alternative than to confide in you. Like I told you before, my name is Mrs Mathilda Godwin and i'm a 56 yr old widow from South Africa. I lost my husband to a ghastly motor accident 5 yrs ago. We had no kids and I never remarried because of my love for him. Before his death, he was into import and export. It was even on one of his many trips outside the country that eventually led to his sudden demise.
Before his death, he made a deposit of $9 Million with a bank in one West African country. And I'm the registered next of kin to this fund. After we buried him I decided to wait for a year before I go to withdraw the money. But unfortunately, I was diagnosed with cancer 9 months after his departure. Since then I have been battling with the ailment. I have been to various hospitals but they all told me thesame thing, that it is a terminal case. I have undergone 4 major surgeries since then till date but all to no avail. And just last month, my doctor disclosed to me that I won't make it till February next year. Since then I have not been myself. As I'm composing this message, I have been schedule for another major surgery by the 3rd week of January. And I don't know if I will make it this time because my doctor told me I have just 10% chances of survival. That is why I have contacted you.
I saw you as a humble and honest person that can help me to handle the transfer process for investment and charity work in your country. My plan is to present you to the bank as my friend and the appointed beneficiary to this fund, then instruct them to release the funds to you to enable you execute a philantropic project on my behalf, since I'm not strong enough to do this work.
Please if you can be sympathetic and delighted to do this work, kindly reply me as soon as possible for more details.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs Mathilda Godwin


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