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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. Fatima Owens" <fatima@ict-maastricht.nl>
Reply-To: fatimaowens_shop@outlook.com
Date: Sat, 05 Mar 2016 16:58:18 +0000
Subject: Hello!!


Hello,

This might come as a surprise to you but just don't know what next
action to take, I have an offer for you, I am Mrs. Fatima Owens from
Georgia, US State, I am a widow for 14 years now. I lost my late
husband on an auto-crush with my daughter he was an International
contractor in Europe, Asia and America before he died in the year 2001.

I have been suffering for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Cancer, fibroid
problems and hearing impairments. Recently, my doctor told me that I
will die in the next two or three months because of the complications
with the cancer problem.

Therefore I decided to donate all the total sum of amount in my bank
?4,600,154 EUR to a reliable individual who will use it to build
orphanage and help the poor. So i decided to email you and seek for
your consent so that i will bequeath the total sum to you for this
project.

If you are willing to accept this money from me, i will give you
further details, please get back to me within three (3) days or i will
look for another individual that will accept to use this money to help
the poor.

I am waiting for your reply.

Thanks
Mrs. Fatima Owens

Anti-fraud resources: