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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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: zagloballottery@netscape.net
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 02:40:32 +0200
Subject: Congratulations You Have Won!!

INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT,

REF: ZAR/23457677/2004

BATCH: 11/576809/KC/MFP

ATTENTION

RE/ AWARD NOTIFICATION; FINAL NOTICE GATEGORY \B\ WINNERS


We wish to inform you of the lottery draws held on 04th November ,2004 to

declare the winners of the ZA GLOBAL LOTTERY ORGANIZATION SOUTH

AFRICA/INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS. Your company, attached to

ticket number 356-00098-3211-222, with serial number 818-09 drew the

lucky numbers 14-41-25-19-49-37, and consequently won the lottery. You

have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of RANDS

14,000,000.00 in cash credited to file REF NO: ZAR/23457677/2004.

This is from total prize money of RANDS 170,000,000.00 shared among the

seventeen international winners in this category. All participants were

selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 17,000 names from

Australia, New Zealand, America, Europe and Middle East and Asia as

part of our International Promotions Program, which is conducted monthly.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Your fund is now available for claim. Due to the mix up of some numbers

and names, we ask that you keep this award strictly from public notice

until your claim has been processed and your money remitted to your

account.This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or

unscrupulous acts by participants of this promotion. We hope with a part

of your prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes ZAR

100,000,000 Million International Lottery.TO BEGIN YOUR CLAIM, YOU

ARE ADVISED TO CONTACT YOUR CLAIM AGENT VIA THE TELEPHONE NUMBERS BELOW

THAMBO MARTINS
CLAIMS DEPARTMENT,
FOREIGN SERVICE MANAGER,
ZA GLOBAL LOTTERY ORGANIZATION
JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG
SOUTH AFRICA.

TEL: 27-72 046 8946
FAX: 27-72 764 8146

EMAIL:martinsthambo@consultant.com

For due processing and remittance of your prize money to a designated

account of your choice. Remember, all prize money must be claimed not

later than Two Weeks after notice. After this date, all funds will be

returned as unclaimed. NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and

complications, please remember to quote your reference and batch

numbers in every one of your correspondences with your agent.

Furthermore, should there be any change of your address, do inform your

claims agent as soon as possible.

Congratulations again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our

promotions program.

Sincerely,

MARY VAN DER MERWE

PROMOTIONS MANAGER.

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