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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: "James Hoopkins" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <micro_jackpot1471@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:14:15 -0700
Subject: FROM MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT 2011

FROM MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT 2011
REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/L
BATCH: 4583JL/WIN
MICROSOFT EMAIL LOTTERY AWARD PROMOTION: UNITED KINGDOM Finally today,
announce the winners of the MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT LOTTO WINNINGS
PROGRAMS held early this month 2011. Your company or your personal
e-mail address, attached to winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100, With
serial number 647489, consequently won in the Tenth lottery category.
You have been approved for lump sums pay out of? 850,000.00 (Eight
hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterlings) in cash Credited to
file REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/L and winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100.
Selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized
email selection machine (TOPAZ) from a database of over 1,000,000
email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world.
The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses
from an exclusive list of 29,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and
corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer
search from the internet. No ticket were sold but all email
addresses were assigned to different ticket numbers for representation
and privacy.This is to encourage our prominent Microsoft Internet Explorer users
all over the world, and for the Continues use of E-mail.
Your fund has been insured with your REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/L and
winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100. To claim your winning prize, You
are to reply to this letter In order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, please remember to quote your reference and winning
numbers in all correspondences with your claims officer. You are to
keep all lotto information away from the general public especially your ticket
number and ballot number. (This is important as a case of double claims
will not be entertained)
PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE TO SEND THE BELOW INFORMATION REQUIRED TO CLAIM YOUR WINNING PRIZE:
1. Full Name:
2. Address:
3. Nationality:
4. Age :..... Date of Birth: .........
5. Occupation:
6. Your Office Telephone and fax.
7. Moble Telephone
8. State of Origin: .................... Country:
Kind Regards
Mr. James Hopkins
+447035938106

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