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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: BILL GATES FOUNDATION <zenith.atmcard16@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mailtopetermillet@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2019 21:06:35 +0100
Subject: Re: YOUR DONATION From Bill Gates.

--
BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION (THE BILL GATES FOUNDATION)

Dear beneficiary,

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have carefully chosen to donate the sum of
16,800,000.00USD ($16.8 Million). This is our idea and project to end the
year 2019 in sweet surprises to many active email & Microsoft
users/subscribers.

The Bill Gates Foundation cherishes the idea of making people happy and
lifting millions of person out of poverty around the world.

Reply to this email with your personal detail in order to have the donation
fund remitted to you.

Sincerely,

Dr. Chris Elias.
President,
Global Development,
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_mediumail&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=icon>
Virus-free.
www.avast.com
<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_mediumail&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=link>
<#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

Anti-fraud resources: