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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: Westernunion Money Transfer <westerunionpro1@live.com>
Reply-To: westerunionagent@safrica.com
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2010 09:19:39 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Thank you for using Western Union!



Dear Sir / Madam,



For 156 years, Western Union has been connecting people. At Western Union, there's so much more than money you're sending. Every sender and receiver is important to us. To celebrate our 157th SouthAfrica Anniversary, we're rewarding our customers with prizes of USD$160, 000.00



Because you sent money on-line, from an agent location or received money through Western Union, you've been selected.



However, you are required to forward the following information for immediate payment of your USD$160, 000.00



1.) Bank Name;

2.) Beneficiary:

3.) Account Number:

4.) Bank Address:

5.) Swift Code or Routing Number:

6) Country of Residence:

6.) Your Mobile Telephone Number:



You will be contacted by a Western Union in the next 24 hours as soon as you forward your required information and you will receive the USD$160, 000.00 prizes immediately from us.



(CONTACT PROMOTION MANAGER)

Name: Mr. Hillary Newton

E-mail: westerunionagent@safrica.com

Tel: +27 71 00 36 360

Fax: +27 86 719 7858



Save time, send money, earn rewards! Western Union is a service people trust.



ANNIVERSARY DAY



Thank you for using Western Union!

-----------------------------------------------------

We endeavor to maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to guard your Information. We also endeavor to restrict Information access to our employees, agents and representatives that need to know it. Western Union will never disclose your personal or billing information to a third party.

Anti-fraud resources: