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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: bob wood <woodbob404@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2020 17:58:03 +0100
Subject: AN URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL

My name is Mr. Bob Wood from the United Kingdom, my wife is from
Kazakhstan and we live in the United Kingdom, I lost my wife on August 16,
2016. Meanwhile, I have been struggling with cancer for a long time and my
doctor said my present stage is uncontrollable and I have a few months more
to live. Before the death of my wife, She worked a contract with the
British government worth of 4.7 million dollars, but death took her before
the money was sent to my bank account, my wife was a philanthropist before
her death, she also encouraged me to help poor people, since we couldn't
get children of our own throughout our marriage life.

Because of the condition of my health, I have deposited 700,000.00 $ to the
hospital for my medication, I would like to send the remaining two million
dollars to you so that you will help me give it out to the poor,widows and
the less privileged people over there in your country as instructed by my
late wife since we did not have any children to inherit this money, Please
do not discriminate on religion, race, ethnicity when handling this
project. Try to reply to me immediately for more information. May God bless
you and your family, I would love to talk to you on the phone, but the
problem is that I do not know the language and can not speak well due to
pains, please keep this information very secret, never tell anyone about
this money at all for security reason

I want you to know that, I did not just wake up and decide to contact you
for this, I have been praying so God can direct me to a good person. I will
Send this money to you, so I believe that God knows the reason why I
contacted you.

I want you to send me your personal data such as your full name , complete
address, phone number, picture of any of your ID cards and tell me the kind
of job you are working presently, I will contact my bank manager to know
the best way to send the money to you in your country. When you receive
this money, You will take 30% and give other remaining balance to the poor,
widows and the less privileged people like i have stated above in your
country


Regards
Bob Wood

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