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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: microsoftmailpromoxx@handbag.com
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 11:44:56 +0100
Subject: CONGRATULATION!!! YOU WON A MICROSOFT LOTTERY

MICROSOFT EMAIL LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL
FROM:INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION / PRIZE AWARD.
PROMOTING INTERNET USAGE OVER THE GLOBE
(MICROSOFT ENCOURAGE GLOBALIZATION)

FROM: THE LOTTERY COORDINATOR,
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT
Microsoft B.V. Boeing Avenue 44 9459 PE Schiphol-Rijk.

RESULTS FOR CATEGORY "A" DRAWS
Congratulations to you as we bring to your notice,
the results of the First Category draws of MICROSOFT
LOTTERY INT. We are happy to inform you that you have
emerged a winner under the First Category, which is
part of our promotional draws. The draws are being officially announced
today 11th of March 2005. Participants were selected through a
computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of
individuals and companies from Africa, America, Asia, Australia,
Europe, Middle East, and Oceania as part of our
International Promotions Program.

Your e-mail address, attached to ticket number 50941465206-529, with
serial number 5772-54 drew the lucky numbers 3-4-17-28-35-44 and
consequently won in the First Category.
You have therefore been awarded a lump sum pay out
of 1,000,000 (One Million Euros), which is the
winning payout for Category A winners. This is from the total prize
money from 2,000,000 shared among the 2 winners in this category
CONGRATULATIONS!
Your fund is now deposited with the paying Bank.
In your best interest to aviod mix up of numbers and
names of any kind, we request that you keep the
entire details of your award strictly from public
notice until the process of transferring your claims has
been completed, and your funds remitted to your
account.
This is part of our security protocol to avoid
double claiming or unscrupulous acts by
participants/nonparticipants of this program.
Please contact your claims agent immediately for due
processing and remittance of your prize money to a
designated account of your choice:
To file for your claim,please contact the fiduciary
agent.
***********************************************
Mr. Harvey Kurt,
Prudent Trust Agency
Email:prudenttrustt@netscape.net
1156 H T NL-6400 AA SITTARD
AMSTERDAM
THE NETHERLANDS,
Tel.:+31-611-447-805
***********************************************

You are advised to contact the agents by email
within a week of receiving this notice.
Failure to do so may warrant disqualification.
NOTE: For easy reference and identification, find
below your reference and Batch numbers. Remember to
quote these numbers in every one of your
correspondence with your claims agent.
REFERENCE NUMBER: LSLUK/2031/8161/04
BATCH NUMBER: 14/011/IPD
Congratulations once again from all our staff and
thank you for being part of our promotions program.

Sincerely Yours,
MRS.ELIZABETH MOUS.
THE LOTTERY COORDINATOR,
MICROSOFT INT.

N.B: Any breach of confidentiality on the part of
the winners will result to disqualification. Please do
not reply to this mail. Contact your fiduciary agent
immediately.




___________________________________________________________

Book yourself something to look forward to in 2005.
Cheap flights - http://www.tiscali.co.uk/travel/flights/
Bargain holidays - http://www.tiscali.co.uk/travel/holidays/





___________________________________________________________

Book yourself something to look forward to in 2005.
Cheap flights - http://www.tiscali.co.uk/travel/flights/
Bargain holidays - http://www.tiscali.co.uk/travel/holidays/



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