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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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "mercurial lottery" <mercuriallottery1954@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 06 Nov 2005 09:25:42 +0000
Subject: PRIZE AWARD NOTIFICATION.

PRIZE AWARD NOTIFICATION.
MERCURIAL ELECTRONIC LOTTERY.
MERCURIAL PLAZA,#221 ARCADIA STR.
PRETORIA-SOUTH AFRICA.
FROM THE DIRECTOR,PRIZE AWARD
DEPARTMENT.
LUCKYNUMBERS:05,17,22,27,34,44.
REFNUMBERS: MLL-PD23-711W-9
BATCHNUMBERS: 49-184-WAN.
SERIAL NUMBERS:215-18 DRAW.
PRIZE AWARD NOTIFICATION.
We are pleased to inform you from MERCURIAL ELECTRONIC LOTTERY.
of the announcement today, 5th Nov 2005 as one of the
lucky winners of The MERCURIAL ELECTRONIC LOTTERY. draws, held on
the 2nd of
Nov 2005 as part of Our e-business promotional draws end.
Participants in the draws were selected through a computer
ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of
individuals and companies from Africa, America, Asia,
Australia, Europe, Middle East,as part of our electronic
business Promotions
Program.You qualified for the draw as a result of your
visiting various
websites we are running the Electronic-business promotions
for. You/Your Company email address, attached with REFERENCE
NUMBER: MLL-PD23-711W-9 , BATCH NUMBER: 49-184-WAN with serial
number 215-18 drew
the lucky numbers 05,17,22,27,34,44. and consequently
won the oct 2005 draw.
You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of
US$1,500,000.00
in cash, which is the winning payout for First category
winners. This is from the total prize money of US$10,500,000.00 shared among
the
seven winners in the First category.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Your winnings should be claimed from our paying Agents.
(jomo finance Limited) As we have notified them. Due to the mix that may
arise from emails of winners and numbers we ask that you keep this award
strictly from public notice until your claim has been processed and your
money
remitted to you.This is part of our security protocol to avoid double
claiming or unscrupulous acts by participants of this program.
We hope with a part of your prize, you will participate in
our third quarter of year (2005) high stakes US$1.1 billion International
Lottery. To begin your claim, please contact our paying agent who also Will
be your claim agent immediately:
MR WILLIAMS OSILAMA.
MANAGER BROKERAGE SERVICE.
JOMO FINANCE LIMITED.
Email:williamsosillama@gmail.com
Email:JOMOFINANCELTD@workmail.co.za
TEL+27-730-965-314.
FAX: 27-11-507-6520.
For due processing and remittance of your prize money,
Remember you must contact your claim agent not later
than 25th Of Nov 2005 After this date, all funds
will be returned as unclaimed.
NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, please remember to quote your reference
and batch numbers provided below in every one of your
correspondences with your claims agent.
REFERENCE NUMBER: MLL-PD23-711W-9
BATCH NUMBER: 49-184-WAN
Also to begin your Claim send to your claims agent the
following information
by email.
1)YOUR BATCH AND REFFERENCE NUMBERS
2)AMOUNT WON.
3)YOUR FULL NAME.
4)YOUR ADDRESS.
5)A COPY OF YOUR ID (PASSPORT OR DRIVERS LISCENCE).
6)CONTACT DETAILS,(MOBILE PHONE NUMBER AND FAX NUMBER).
7)SERIAL NUMBERS.
8)OCCUPATION.
9)AGE.
10)DATE.
Congratulations once again from all our staff and
thank you for being part of our promotions program.
Sincerely,
THE DIRECTOR PRIZE AWARD
DEPARTMENT.
MERCURIAL ELECTRONIC LOTTERY.
MERCURIAL PLAZA,#221 ARCADIA STR.
PRETORIA-SOUTH AFRICA.
N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the
winners will result to disqualification.



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