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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: "SONIC BV LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL" <claims_info01@msn.com>
Date: Sat, 02 Jul 2005 19:06:17 +0000
Subject: FROM MY DESK:WINNING RESULT!!

SONIC BV LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL
Under UK National Lottery
Lottery Promotion
Customer Service
Ref:PLI/4080318306/04
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

WINNING NOTIFICATION
We are officially informing you of the result of the Sonic BV Lottery
International programs held on the 25th of JUNE 2005 as part of our
promotional programs for the year 2005 in ARMSTERDAM,NETHERLANDS. Your
e-mail address attached to ticket number:5368/02 with Serial number:
56475600545 188 drew the lucky numbers: 19-6-26-17-35-7, which
subsequently won you the lottery in the 3rd category.You have therefore
been approved to claim a total sum of One Million,Five Hundred
Thousand Euros in cash credited to file ktu/9023118308/03.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Your funds have now been deposited and insured through our security
firm for transfer to your chosen destination in cash. We also advice
that
you keep your winning information very confidential as our security
policy
demands to avoid double claims/impersonation and unwarranted abuse of
this program by some unscrupulous individuals.
The selection process was carried out through random selection in our
computerized email selection system (ESS) from a database of over
500,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world.
This
promotional program being the first of its kind will now take place
annually and we hope with part of your winning you will take part in
our next year Five Million Euros, International Lottery Draws. To file
for
your claim, our accounts department authorized to verify and process
your claims for your total payment would be contacting you. (You will
receive more information upon your acknowledgment of this email) via
our
designated claims officer,
Mr Richard Harp
Email address:harp_soniclottopromo@yahoo.co.uk

This promotional lottery is promoted and sponsored by software
corporations listed below,

1, Microsoft Corporation. http://www.microsoft.com/
2, IBM http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/
3, Symantec Corporation http://www.symantec.com/index.htm

We intend to use this medium to help individuals generate fortunes
which would encourage them to expand their business frontiers thereby
creating more opportunities and assisting with humanitarian concerns
within
their immediate environment. Please Note that claims must be made not
later
than 15th of JULY 2005. After this date all winning funds will be
included
in our subsequent program. In order to avoid complications always quote
your reference number in all correspondence.
Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform us as soon
as possible. Congratulations from our organizations and thank you for
being part of our promotional program.

N.B: Anybody under the age of 18 is not eligible to participate in this
program.

Sincerely yours,
Mr Mark Anderson
UK Co-ordinator


Anti-fraud resources: