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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: "MSN Award Centre" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <msn.support1010@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 06:10:47 -0800
Subject: Your Ref Code: MSN428A2011!!!

MSN-ANNUAL AWARD PROMOTION
London WC 1B 4AR United Kingdom.
 
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Two Hundred & Fifty Thousand Great Britain Pounds (250,000.00 GBP) in our monthly email award winning promotion which was organized by MSN, which was conducted today.
 
This is from the total prize money of 50,000,000.00 GBP which is to be shared among the Twenty award winners in 2nd categories. All participants in this Award promotion were selected randomly through our MSN Computer Ballot System, drawn from 65,000,000 email addresses from all search engines.
Your e-mail address was picked by the automated MSN Computer Ballot System, which has been programed for this random selection.
 
This has eventually qualified you for the Winning. This promotional program is promoted and sponsored by MSN Company, eminent personalities of hotmail and msn users, with the support of The British/European corporate companies and organizations to encourage the use of Internet and computers worldwide.
 
Stated below are your identification numbers:
 
Ref Code: MSN428A2011
File Number: MN0907
 
Hence you are requested to contact Our Co-ordinator in Manchester and send your winning identification numbers to him through the below details:
 
Co-ordinator`s Name: Dr. Ben Carter
Email: msn.support1600@hotmail.com
Tel: +447024088099
Fax: +448704956127
 
You are also advised to send the following information to our co-ordinator to facilitate the release of your fund to you.
 
(1) Full Name
(2) Nationality
(3) Contact Address
(4) Home/Moblie Phone
(5) Date Of Birth
(6) Occupation
(7) Sex
(8) Reference and Batch numbers
 
Congratulations! Once More.
 
Best Regards,
Robert Montaomery
======================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
====================================================
Note that all prize money must be claimed not later than one month of notification. All funds not Claimed on or before the fixed date will be returned as Unclaimed Prize and please be aware that our Paying Authority will Effect Payment Swiftly upon satisfactory Report, Verifications and validation provided by our co-ordinator.
 
NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, Please remember to quote your Reference and File numbers in all correspondences with our co-ordinator.
 
                                                  ©2011 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

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