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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: "Mrs. Martinez" <florence03martinez@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: "Mrs. Martinez" <martinez01florence@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2018 09:36:00 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Hello My Beloved



Greetings In the name of God Almighty.

I am Mrs. Florence Martinez, an aging widow suffering from long time
illness. I am currently admitted in a private hospital, I have some
funds I inherited from my late loving husband Mr. Carlos Martinez, the sum
of ( $5,500,000.00) Five million Five hundred thousand dollars, which
he deposited in Bank and I need a very honest and God fearing person
that can use this funds for humanitarian project like to build
schools, to help orphans and windows. I found your email address from
the internet and decided to contact you.That said, being assured of
having fallen on a person responsible and above all good faith, I ask
you to please contact me as soon as possible to give you more
explanation on the reasons for my action and the course of things.
Mrs. Florence Martinez

Anti-fraud resources: