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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: "FREE LOTTO PROMOTIONS" <coordinator@freelotto.com>
Reply-To: coordpromo@netscape.net
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2005 20:59:29 +0200
Subject: F.L.P. NOTICE

MR. MARK SMITH.
FREE LOTTO PROMOTIONS
REF NUMBER: SLI/421/960/05
BATCH NUMBER: ST-688-SN13-05
Dear Winner,
We are pleased to inform you that as a result of our recent lottery
draw held on the 15th of June 2005. Your e-mail address attached to
ticket number 27522465896-532 with serial number 652-662 drew lucky
numbers 05-09-17-24-26-38, which consequently won in the 2nd category.
You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of
€1,500,000.00 (One Million, Five Hundred Thousand Euros only)
Note that all participants in this lottery program have been selected
randomly through a computer ballot system drawn from over 20,000
companies and 30,000,000 individual email addresses from all search
engines and websites. This promotional program takes place every year,
and is promoted and sponsored by eminent personalities like the Sultan
of Brunei, Bill Gates of Microsoft Inc and other corporate
organizations. This is to encourage the use of the Internet and
computers worldwide.
For security purpose and clarity, we advise that you keep your winning
information confidential until your claims have been processed and
your money remitted to you. This is part of our security protocol to
avoid double claims and unwarranted abuse of this program by some
participants. We look forward to your active participation in our next
year US$50 Million slot.
You are requested to contact our Lottery coordinator strictly by the
email below: coordpromo@netscape.net </ym/Compose?To=coordpromo@netscape.net> This is to assist you with your
winnings and subsequent payments immediately. All winnings must be
claimed not later than one month after the date of this notice. Please
note, in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, 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 and thank you for being
part of our promotional program.
NOTE: YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED IF YOU ARE BELOW 18 YEARS OF
AGE OR SEEN TO DOUBLE CLAIM THROUGH ANY OTHER COORDINATOR.
Sincerely yours

MR. MARK SMITH
(LOTTERY COORDINATOR)
coordpromo@netscape.net


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