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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: "UK LOTTERY" <uklottery_notify@msn.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 19:17:19 +0000
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION

UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.



The National Lottery
P O Box 1010
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)

Ref: UK/9420X2/68

Batch: 074/05/ZY369

WINNING NOTIFICATION:

We happily announce to you the draw (#980) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,online
Sweepstakes International program held on Tuesday 28th of july, 2005. Your
e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial number
5368/02 drew the lucky numbers:12-18-22-33-43-48-25, which subsequently won
you the lottery in the 1st category.You have therefore been approved to
claim a total sum of £141,022 (one hundred and forty one thousand,and twenty
two pounds) in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/03.This is from a total
cash prize of £9,009,105 shared amongst the (9) lucky winners in this
category i.e Match 5 plus bonus.

All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World
Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000
unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online. This
promotion takes place weekly.

Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet
representative office in Europe as indicated in your play coupon. In view of
this, your £141,022 (one hundred and forty one thousand and wenty two
pounds) would be released to you by any of our payment offices in Europe.

Our European agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the
release of your funds as soon as you contact him. For security reasons, you
are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims
is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit
to claim your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid
double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned. To
file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent:

MR :Peter Wright.

email: uklotterynationalgames@yahoo.com


Goodluck from me and members of staff of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.

Yours faithfully,
Richard K. Lloyd.
Online coordinator for UK NATIONAL LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program.


Anti-fraud resources: