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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: "Winnings Winnings" <winnings@britishlotterypromo.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 20:04:28 +0000
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION

British Lottery Headquarters:
Customer Service
28 TANFIELD ROAD,
CROYDON.LONDON

Ref: BTL/491OXI/04
Batch: 12/25/0304




WINNING NOTIFICATION
We happily announce to you the draw of the British
Lottery International programs held on the 31st of
July 2004 in London.Your e-mail address attached to
ticket number: 694 75600545 721 with Serial number
886/04 drew the lucky numbers: 31-6-26-13-35-7,which
subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd
category.You are therefore, been approved to claim a
total sum of US$2,500,000.00(Two million, five hundred
thousand, United StatesDollars) in cash credited to
file RPC/9080118308/04.This is from a total cash prize
of US $125 Million dollars, shared amongst the first
Fifty (50) lucky winners in this category.

This year Lottery Program Jackpot is the largest ever
for British Lottery .The estimated $125 million
jackpot would be the sixth-biggest in U.K. history.The
biggest was the $363 million jackpot that went to two
winners in a May 2000 drawing of The Big Game, Mega
Millions' predecessor.

Please note that your lucky winning number falls
within our European booklet representative office in
Europe as indicated in our play coupon. In view of
this, your US$2,500,000.00 (Two million, five hundred
thousand,United States Dollars) would be released to
you by our affiliate bank in London.

Our agent will immediately commence the process to
facilitate the release of your funds to you as soon as
you make contact with him .

All participants were selected randomly from World
Wide Web site through computer draw system and
extracted from over 100,000 companies.This
promotiontakes place annually. For security reasons,
you are advised to keep your winning information
confidential till your claims is processed a nd your
money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit
to claim your prize. This is a part of our
precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and
unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous
elements. Please be warned.To file for your claim,
please contact our fiduciary agent with the below
details for processing of your claims.

AGENT: Mrs Mary Pebbles
Email: mary_pebbles@excite.com

To avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please
quote your reference/batchnumbers in any
correspondences with us or our designated
agent.Congratulations once more from all members and
staffs of this program.Thank you for being part of our
promotional lottery
program.

Sincerely,
Maxwell Coker.
Zonal Coordinator.


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