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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: Mega Millions <claims@megamillions.com>
Reply-To: johnathancamron.claimsagent@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2015 18:48:08 +0300 (MSK)
Subject: Congrtulations Mega Millionaire.

Congratulations
 
We write to inform you of the result of our Just Concluded Internet Sweepstakes Mega Million Lotto program that was conducted on the 2nd of June, 2015. Your e-mail address was extracted among other e-mail addresses from the Internet Data Base and entered into our program with a File Serial Number: JU-71070/187AY, which drew the winning numbers 2,9,11,22,23 and 12. You are a proud winner of £2,525,000.00pounds (two Million, five Hundred and Twenty-Five Thousand Pounds Only) Note: to claim your funds you are to immediately reply this email with your winning numbers (2,9,11,22,23 and 12) as your subject and address your email to the program coordinator. To verify your winning numbers visit http://www.megamillions.com/.
 
This lottery program was conducted by Mega Millions Lottery and sponsored by Yahoo, Google, AOL, Yandex online mailing Company as a Goodwill Gesture to give back to you what you have given us. Your winning must be claimed not later than the 28days of your receipt of this message hence we advise you provide the program coordinator, with the details stated below for the processing of your claims.
 
 
1). Residential Address:
2). Occupation:
3). Phone/Fax Numbers:
4). A Scan Copy of any valid proof of your Identification.( International Passport or Drivers License )that will be used for the processing of your payment file.
 
Congratulations and happy spending upon your receipt of the winning funds.
 
Sincerely yours,
 
Johnathan Camron
(Programs Coordinator)
Copyright(c) 2015 Mega Millions.
 

Anti-fraud resources: