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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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Fraud email example:

From: "MARIAM ABACHA" <mariam_aba26@msn.com>
Reply-To: markbenard_wto@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Tue, 01 Nov 2005 01:51:36 +0000
Subject: Congratulations!

Congratulations!


We are pleased to announce you as one of the 6 lucky winners in the
World-Trip-Offers draw held on october 20th, 2005. All 6 winners were
randomly selected from a batch of 10,000,000 e-mails around the world that
has successfully recorded 1,000 and above logins. Your e-mail address
emerged alongside 5 others as a winner in this year's Annual Summer Round
the World All-Expenses-Paid Trip.

Consequently, you have therefore been approved for two world trip airfare
tickets and a lump sum of £800,000 expense funds. The following particulars
are attached to your Prize Draw:


1 Ticket Number: ETN1754/07/2005

2 Ref Number: WTO/07/012/UK



Please contact this address below to receive and fill out the clearance form
to enable us commences the processing of your traveling arrangements
including hotel bookings and airline reservations.



Note: Anybody under the age of 18 is automatically disqualified from this
program.



Regards,

Vivian Frank



World-Trip-Offers/Prize Award Dept

6/6a Exchange Center,

London, SW15 1TW

UNITED KINGDOM.

Email: markben_wto@yahoo.co.uk

Contact person: Mark Ben.


Anti-fraud resources: