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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: "The National Australian Lottery" <joycoleman3@msn.com>
Reply-To: tonydouglas@ureach.com
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 2005 01:47:35 +0000
Subject: Congratulations Dear Winner!!!

REF NUMBER: 435062725

BATCH NUMBER: 7050470902/189

WINNING NUMBER: GB8101/LPRC

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are delighted to inform you of your prize which was released on the 28th
of August 2005, from the Australian International Lottery programme,which is
fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail
addresses from some sites. Your email address was attached to ticket number;
47001725 07056490102 and serial number 7741134002. This batch draws the
lucky numbers as follows 5-13-33-37-42 and bonus number 17,which
consequently won the lottery in the second category.

You hereby have been approved a lump sum pay of US$200,000.00 (TWO HUNDRED
THOUSAND DOLLARS) in cash credit file ref: ILP/HW 47509/09 from the total
cash prize shared amongst eight lucky winners in this category. All
participants were selected through a computer balloting system drawn form
Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada, Australia, United
States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our
international promotion program which is conducted annually. This Lottery
was promoted and sponsored by a conglomorate of some multinational companies
as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the commmunities
where they have an operational base.

Furthermore, your details(e-mail address) falls within our European
representative office in Amsterdam,Holland as indicated in your play coupon
and your prize of US$200,000.00 will be released to you from this regional
branch office in NIGERIA. We hope that with part of your prize, you will
participate in our end of year high stakes for US$1.3 million international
draw.

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE: Simply contact our fiducial agent,Mr Tony Douglas
to file for your claim . Please quote your reference, batch and winning
number which can be found on the top left corner of this notification as
well as your full name, address and telephone number to help locate your
file easily. For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this
information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and
your prize released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid
double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this programme by
non-participants or unofficial personnel.

Note, all winnings MUST be claimed by the 20th of september, 2005; otherwise
all funds will be returned as Unclaimed and eventually donated to charity
organisations.


PLEASE CONTACT Mr Tony Douglas, so that he will tell you of how you will
receive your winning prize.

Name: Mr Tony Douglas

Email: tonydouglas@ureach.com

Congratulations once again on your win!!!
Best Regards (Co-ordinator)

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY THIS EMAIL. CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT AT ANY BREACH OF
CONFIDENTIALITY ON THE PART OF THE WINNERS WILL RESULT TO DISQUALIFICATION.


Anti-fraud resources: