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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs. Grace Anderson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <centerpayment63@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:06:54 +0200
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS?

Congratulations you have won US$2,000.000.00 (Two Million Dollars) on Spanish compensation
charity program, your email address was selected from a computer ballot draw that was held by FIFA
committee in conjunction with Spanish football association.

You are advised to contact our local agent who is your claims agent for more
details and pay out of your won prize.

Claims agent contact details below:

Mrs. Grace Anderson
Tel:+44-7924585990
Email: centerpayment63@yahoo.com.hk

You are to contact the above claim agent as soon as you receive this email
with claim reference number; CFA233 otherwise your prize will be cancelled.

Congratulations once again from members and staffs of this organization.

Yours,

Martina Elguera,
Lottery Coordinator.

Anti-fraud resources: