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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: mohamed noor <mumtazo9@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 29 May 2011 12:36:44 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: CONGRATULATIONS!!! YOU HAVE WON 2011 DUTCH NATIONAL LOTTERY



On Tue May 24th, 2011 12:03 AM EDT Carol L Byrd wrote:

>WINNING NOTIFICATIONWe are delighted to inform you as the result of the E-mail address computer
>ballot lottery draw of the dutch National lotto bv international program,which
>took place on APRIL 2011.This is a computer generated lottery of Internet
>users using email addresses for draws.
>This lotto draw is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using
>their e-mail addresses from different World  wide web(www)sites.Your e-mail
>address  attached to ticket   number:275-189-657-23-05 with Serial number 8756-
>05 drew the lucky  numbers and bonus ball number which subsequently won you the
>lottery in the 2nd category.You have therefore been approved to claim a total
>sum of $500,000 (FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) in cash credit file ref:ILP/HW
>47509/02.
>This is from the total cash prize of 5,000,000 Million Dollars,shared amongst
>the first Ten (10)lucky winners in this category.All participant were selected
>randomly through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand-
>mail addresses from Canada, Australia, Belgium,Nederland, Arab, United States,
>Asia, Europe,Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our international
>promotions program which is conducted annually.
>This Lottery is being promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of Multinational
>companies as part of their social  responsibility to the citizens in the
>communities where they have operational base.Further more your details(e-mail
>address) falls  within our European representative office in United Kingdom,as
>indicated in your play coupon and your prize of $500,000 will be released to
>you from our regional branch office in United Kingdom.We hope with part of your
>prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes for US$1.3 Billion
>international draw.Our agent will immediately commence the process to
>facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him.
>PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU QUOTE YOUR BELOW WINNING PARTICULARS WHEN CONTACTING
>YOUR AGENT:
>Ref: 4758961725Batch:
>ALLINC 70564943902/188Winning no:
>FGNGB2701/LPRC
>HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE: Simply contact your claims agent,Wil Moore at email:
>(Hudsonmoore.claims@gmail.com) Fill this form below and send it to  him to file for your claim.
>+447024059367
>LOTTERY WINNERS APPLICATION FORM OF   PAYMENT.
>FULL  NAME.................................................
>DATE OF BIRTH..................................
>SEX..................................
>AGE..................................
>MARITAL STATUS...................................
>NATIONALITY.........................................
>ADDRESS...................................
>OCCUPATION...........................................
>TELEPHONE..........................................
>FAX......................................................
>EMAIL................
>DATE......................................................
>WINNER REF/BATCH NO........................
>APPROVED FOR PAYMENT.
>Please quote your reference,batch and winning number which can be found on the
>top left corner of this notification as well as your full name, address and
>telephone number to help locate your file easily.For  security reasons, we
>advice all  winners to keep this   information confidential(VERY SECRET) from
>the  public until your claim is processed and your prize money
>remitted/released to you.This is part of  our precautionary measure to avoid
>double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous
>elements,equally to guard against non participant or unofficial personnel
>taking undue advantage of this program. Note that, all winnings MUST be claimed
>by a STIPULATED TIME(ON OR BEFORE 11Th JUNE 2011); otherwise all funds will
>be returned as Unclaimed and eventually be reabsorbed into our next lucky dip
>sweepstakes.You must adhere to this instruction strictly, to avoid any delay
>with the release of your funds to your person as this program has been abused
>in past,hence we are doing our best to forestall further occurrence of false
>claims.
>Note:You must claim your prize:not later than 20-days from the moment you
>receive this e-mail.In order to avoid unnecessary delays with your claim from
>the bank;
>If you receive this mail as junk or spam,please do not disregard it was due to
>network failure
>Congratulations once again on your winnings!!!
>Yours in service,
>Sincerely,
>Carol Byrd
>Online coordinator
>for Dutch NATIONAL LOTTERY

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