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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Carlos Slim" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <carlosslimhelu20@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2016 09:27:35 -0700
Subject: DONATION

Hi
My name is Carlos Slim Helu, A philanthropist the CEO and Chairman of the
Carlos Slim Helu Foundation Charitable Foundation, one of the largest
private foundations in the world. I believe strongly in‘giving while
living’ I had one idea that never changed in my mind that you should use
your wealth to help people and i have decided to secretly give {
$2,500,000.00 USD } to randomly selected individuals worldwide. On receipt
of this email, you should count yourself as the lucky individual. Your
email address was chosen online while searching at random. Kindly get back
to me with your full address at your earliest convenience, so I know your
email address is valid. Regards, Carlos Slim Helu

Anti-fraud resources: