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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: MICROSOFT <microsoftnl@alvilag.hu>
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 16:26:33 +0200
Subject: CONGRATULATION!!! YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS HAS WON A PROMOTION SPONSORED BY BILL GATES

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

FROM: THE PROMOTION 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 PROMOTION 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 18th of July 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.Sticker van Haren,
Address:T. 220A 2060HT,AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS.
Tel.:+31-611-447-805
Email :prudenttrust@maktoob.com
***********************************************

You are advised to contact the agents by email.
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 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 PROMOTION COORDINATOR,
MICROSOFT NL.

N.B: Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to disqualification.Contact your fiduciary agent immediately.



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