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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: "MARK E ZUCKERBERG" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <facebookdept25@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2016 17:55:39 -0400
Subject: ATTENTION: URGENT EMAIL FROM FACEBOOK !!!!!

Facebook Online International
 
Lottery
From: The Desk Of the President.
International Promotions / Prize
 
Award.
Category: 3RD
 
Greetings to you Dear lucky
 
winner.
 
We are pleased to inform you of
 
the result of the just concluded
 
annual final draws held on the
 
23rd of June 2016  by Facebook
 
group in cash promotion to
 
encourage the usage of Facebook
 
worldwide. Your name was among the
 
20 lucky winners who won
 
$650.000.00USD (Six hundred and
 
Fifty Thousand United State
 
Dollars) each on the Facebook
 
group promotion award attached to
 
Lucky Number (FB-225-7736), Ticket
 
Number (5647600545189), Batch
 
Number (FB-0281/544) and Serial
 
Number (55643451907).
 
The online draws was conducted by
 
a random selection of emails you
 
were picked by an advanced
 
automated random computer search
 
from the Facebook in other to
 
claim your $650.000.00usd the
 
lottery program which is a new
 
innovation by Facebook, is aimed
 
at saying a big thank you to all
 
our users for making Facebook
 
their number one means to connect,
 
communicate, relate and hook up
 
with their families and friends
 
over the years.
 
This is part of our security
 
protocol to avoid double claiming
 
and unwarranted abuse of this
 
program by some participants and
 
scam artists all participants were
 
selected through a computer ballot
 
system drawn from over 20,000
 
companies and 30,000,000
 
individuals email addresses from
 
all over the world. This
 
promotional program takes place
 
every three years. You may be rest
 
assured that this is real and
 
legal. There are some scam artists
 
around but thanks to the FBI, 216
 
of them have been arrested.
 
You are required to get back to me
 
with  information below for the
 
complete processing of your
 
Winning certificate and further
 
information regarding the
 
disbursement of your lottery
 
winnings.
 
Full Name:
Contact Address:
Mobile Number:
Occupation:
Marital Status:
Sex:
Age:
Country of Residence:
Nationality:
Lucky Number:
Ticket Number:
Batch Number:
Serial Number:
Your Email Address:
 
Furthermore, if there is any
 
change in email addresses please
 
contact us on time.
 
Thanks and more Congratulations!
 
Regards,
Mr. Mark E. Zuckerberg
CEO Facebook
Announcer.

Anti-fraud resources: