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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: "south africa" <sanational_lottery@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 10:39:50 +0000
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!

Euro Afro American Lottery promotion
Switzerland
From the desk of: Mrs Sandra Nzama
Dear Sir/Madam

CONGRATULATIONS FOR YOUR WINNING:

We happily announce to you the draw of South African 2010 World cup Bid
lottery Award International programs held in Zurich, Switzerland. Your
e-mail address attached to ticket number: B9665 75604546 199 with ! Serial
number 97560 drew the winning: 60/84/27/17/36, which subsequently won you
the lottery award in the 2nd category. Your name have therefore
been approved to claim a total sum of US$2,000.000.00 (Two million United
States Dollars) in cash credited to file KPC/9030108308/03 .This is from a
total cash prize of US $ 30,000,000.00 (Thirty million United States
dollars) shared among the first 200 lucky winners in this category
world-wide.

Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our lottery booklet
representative office in
South Africa as indicate in the play coupon. In view of this, your US
$2,000.000 ( Two Million United States Dollars ) would be released to you
through the assistance of our agent in South Africa immediately he commence
the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contacted
him. Also your claim included with free flight ticket and one month hotel
reservation in one of the five star hotel.

All participants were selected randomly from WorldWide Web site through
computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000,00 companies and
individual emails address. The lottery programe took place to promote South
Africa's 2010 world cup award. For security reasons, you are advised to
keep your winning information confidential till your claims are 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 by some unscrupulous elements.

Please you are advised to file for your claim immediately through our agent
Mr Richard Lama immediately you received this message because you stand a
risk of loosing the prize if you fail to claim within a month from the day
you received this notification.His e-mail address s :rlama15@hotmail.com
please call him on :+27 731 288 127

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Sandra Nzama [Zonal Codinator]


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