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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: "helen idaho" <helenn@inbox.de>
Reply-To: idahohellen55@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 08 May 2017 19:16:27 +0100
Subject: BELOVED IN CHRIST

Hello My Beloved in Christ.

I am Mrs.idaho (Citizen Of Cyprus) an aging widow suffering from
long time illness (Cancer), I am currently admitted in a private
hospital, I have some funds I inherited from my late loving husband
Mr. Willem frank which he deposited in a Bank and I need a very honest
and God fearing family who can use this funds for God's work and 20%
out of the total funds will be for your compensation for doing this
work of God.

Please if your Family will be able to use these funds for the Lord's
work kindly reply   for more details.

Thanks for your co-operations and Remain bless.

your sister in the Lord,
Mrs. Idaho Helen

Anti-fraud resources: