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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: "MR. MARK HARRIS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mh9196648@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 09:45:38 -0700
Subject: UK NATIONAL LOTTERY

Hello!,
 
Good day to you, I am Mark Harris, a citizen of the United Kingdom. I work with National Lottery Commission and Camelot Group PLC, "the official monitoring body and the operator of the UK National Lottery".
 
 
I have a winning lottery prize proposal for you. This is not a winning notification where you will be required to pay fees/charges before claiming the prize,  because you cannot win a lottery without buying a lottery ticket or partaking in the lottery draws. Any such unsolicited lottery winning notification you receive is a hoax and an attempt to rip you off your hard earned money because a winner is not expected to pay any fee for any reason before claiming a winning prize.
 
Emphatically, this is a proposal based on opportunity and mutual trust. My proposal for you which will be of our mutual benefit. I wish to seek your acceptance and cooperation so that the total sum of (Five Million Six Hundred And Fifty Five Thousand, Nine Hundred And Eighty pounds) can be paid to you by the National Lottery for our mutual benefit. The said amount is an unclaimed lottery prize; the wining prize result was published over four month ago and since then, the winner of the prize has failed to come with the winning lottery ticket or proof of winning to claim his or her winning prize.
 
I wish to front you for the claim as the winner of the prize because there is a claim deadline of 180 days (six months) for the claim of this prize; which means that, after the deadline of 180 days, this funds will be forfeited and sent to the UK. Government treasure if left unclaimed. There was a case like this in the past where prizes were forfeited because there were not claimed before the claim deadline.
 
You can check the below BBC news and the lottery post link to confirm and believe what I am saying:
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/4573760.stm
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-18550580
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-18766367
 
http://www.lotterypost.com/news/125528
 
The reasons why some winners fail to claim their prizes may be one or all of the below:
1. The winner may have accidentally thrown away the tickets and lost track of the winning ticket number and other vital information as regards the lucky win.
2. Some winners do not check their tickets properly.
3 The winner may not be aware of the victory .
4. The National Lottery does not advice winners about their winning prize via email notification that is why some may not be aware that they won in the draws.
 
I hereby seek your consent to cooperate with me so that I can provide you the winning information that won the prize funds of Five Million Six Hundred And Fifty Five Thousand, Nine Hundred And Eighty pounds to enable you apply for the claim of the funds as the winner. Once the funds is paid to you, we shall meet face to face and agree on a sharing percentage. This project is 100% risk free because it will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law as I have mapped out all plans to ensure we claim this funds without any trace in the future.
 
However, all I require from you is your honesty, confidentiality, trust, sincerity and dedication then this unclaimed prize money could be paid to you by the National Lottery for our mutual benefit. The winner of the prize has failed to come for the claim of the prize and there is total assurance that he/she will never come for it because every vigilant winner would be anxious to know the result/outcome of a lottery draw even before the results are released. For this reason, I am offering you this opportunity because I am 100% sure that the winners will never come for the prize.
 
I look forward to your quick response while thanking you for your anticipated co-operation.
 
Best regards,
Mark Harris

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