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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: "british lottery" <bri_loto@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 08 Jul 2005 00:04:05 +0000
Subject: AWARDS WINNING NOTIFICATION

BRITISH LOTTERY HEADQUARTERS:
CUSTOMER SERVICE,
**********************************************
28 TANFIELD ROAD,
CROYDON. LONDON. CR9 4HH
**********************************************
Ref: EAASL/941OYI/02/SHYN
Batch: 12/25/0034

Dear Lucky Winner,
RE: BONUS LOTTERY PROMOTION PRIZE AWARDS WINNING NOTIFICATION
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual
final draws of 2005 BRITISH LOTTERY DRAWS
The online Cyber Lotto Email draws was conducted by a random selection
of email addresses from an exclusive list of 500,000 E-mail addresses
of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated
random computer search from the internet. However, no tickets were sold but
all email addresses were assigned to different ticket numbers for
representation and privacy. After this automated computer ballot, your
e-mail address emerged as one of twelve winners in the first category with
the following data
Ref Number: EAASL/941OYI/02/SHYN
Batch Number: 12/25/0034
Ticket Number: 564-75600545-188
You as well as the other winners are therefore to receive a cash prize
of £500,000 pounds(FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS) each from the
total payout. Your prize award has been insured with your e-mail address
and will be transferred to you upon meeting the requirements, statutory
obligations, verifications, validations and satisfactory report.
To begin the claims processing of your prize winnings you are advised
to contact our licensed and accredited claims agent/security company for
first category winners with the information below:

Mrs. Kate Henshaw,
Foreign Services Manager, Payment and Release Order Dept.
DIAMOND FINANCE B.V
Phone: +447031903495
Email: diamondfinance@myway.com

NOTE: All winnings must be claimed within 20 days from today. After
this date all unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake.
Remember to quote your reference information in all correspondence with your
claims agent. You are to keep all lotto information away from the
general public especially your reference and ticket numbers. (This is
important as a case of double claims will not be entertained).
Members of the affiliate agencies are automatically not allowed to
participate in this program.
Thank you and congratulations!!!

Yours faithfully,
Smith Carpenter.
Games/Lottery Coordinator.


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