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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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Fraud email example:

From: "Dr Nelson Paul" <santalotoconsult@netscape.net>
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 13:08:00
Subject: CONGRATULATION!!! YOU HAVE WON

EURO MILLIONS LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL.
FROM: INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD DEPT.
REFERENCE: 67/80/IPD
BATCH: EGGS-541-623-782:
RE: WINNING NOTIFICATION / FINAL NOTICE
Sir/Madam
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Euro millions Lottery
Winners International E-mail programs held on the 4th of MARCH
2005. Your E-mail address attached to ticket number 653-908-321-675 with serial
main number 345-790-241-671 drew lucky star numbers 34-32-90-43-32
which consequently won in the 2nd category, you have therefore been
approved for a lump sum pay out of 1.000.000.00 Euro.(One Million Euro)
CONGRATULATIONS!!! Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that
you keep your winning information confidential until your claims has
been processed and your money remitted to you. This is part of our
security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of
this program by some participants. All participants were selected
through a computer ballot system drawn from over 100,000 company and
50,000,000 individual email addresses and names from all over the
world.

This lottery was promoted and sponsored by Bill Gates, President of
Microsoft, the world's largest software company inorder to enhance and
promote the use of Internet Explorer Users and microsoft-wares around
the globe. This promotional program takes place every three year. We
hope with part of your winning you will take part in our end of year 50
million Euro International lottery.

To file for your claim, please contact our fiducial agent: DR.NELSON PAUL
(SANTA LUCIA SECURITY COMPANY SPAIN)
CONTACT CLAIMS AGENT ON TEL:0034-690-745-490
Email:santalotomail@netscape.net OR santalotoconsult@netscape.net

Remember, all winning must be claimed not later than TWO WEEKS,After
this date all unclaimed funds will be included in the next stake.
Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications
please remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all
correspondence. Furthermore, should there be any change of address do
inform our agent as soon as possible.

Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for
being part of our promotional program.

Note: Anybody under the age of 18 is automatically disqualified.

Sincerely yours,
MRS,COMFORT JOSE
Lottery Coordinator.

Anti-fraud resources: