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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: "Australian Lottery Inc." <prize-claims@outlook.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Aug 2015 08:56:57 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!


 CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS
Australian Lotto Award Center
197 Blackfairs Road SE1 8NJ,
London - the United Kingdom.  BATCH REF: AUS0110/014/YY                                                                   CONGRATULATIONS!!!Your Email Address won the sum of $1,000,000.00 (One Million United States Dollars, Only) in the ongoing 2015 Australian Lotto as conducted and organized in London, United Kingdom through Electronic ballot from e-mail addresses collected from different companies in the world.Fill in the form below and also send code "94C1040" immediately to our claim agent here in London, United Kingdom, Mr. Tony Williams at: prize-claims@outlook.com or call +447031990422 for your claim now.  NAME........EMAIL ADDRESS...........OCCUPATION..........
YOUR FULL ADDRESS...........COUNTRY................NATIONALITY..............
MOBILE/PHONE.............SEX............AGE........... 
Once you contact him, He shall immediately commence the process that will facilitate the release of your fund to you without any further delay.
Winners shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Center. Australian Lotto Award must be claimed not later than 15 days from date of Draw and any Prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited.
NOTE: For security reasons we therefore advise all winners to keep this information STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL from the public until your claim has been processed and your prize money remitted/released to you. This is part of our precautionary measures to avoid double claims, unwarranted abuse or any kind of impersonation.
Congratulations!!  Once again
yours in service
Mrs. Kate Dennis
Head of Publicity
Australian Lottery Inc.

Anti-fraud resources: