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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.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "kevin manag" <kevinmanager2005@hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 08 Oct 2005 06:23:45 -0500
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE WON !!!

CONGRATULATIONS SWISS LOTTO
POSTFACH 4002 BASEL
REF NUMBER: CSL/74/368/05
BATCH NUMBER: CS-121-LT-11-12-05
swisslotto_05@yahoo.co.uk
(reply to this email address)

DEAR SIR/MADAM,

We are pleased to inform you, THAT AS A RESULT OF OUR RECENT Lottery DRAWS
HELD on the 11th April. 2005. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number
63538953216-435 with serial number 172-488 drew lucky numbers 13 - 15 - 16-
26 - 28 - 41 + 19 which consequently won in the 2nd category.

you have therefore been approvedfor alump sum pay out of 4,000,000
(DOLLARS)(FOUR MILLION DOLLARS)note that All participants in this lottery
programhave been selected randomly through a computer ballot system drawn
from over 20,000 companies and 30,000,000 individual email addresses from
all search engines and web sites.

This promotional program takes place every year, and is promoted and
sponsored by eminent personalities like the Sultan of Brunei, Michael Dell
of Dell Computers and other corporate organizations. this is to encourage
the use of the Internet and computers worldwide. For security purpose and
clarity,we advise that you keep your winning information confidential until
your claims have been processed and your money remitted to you. This is part
of our security protocol to avoid double claims and unwarranted abuse of
this program by some participants. We look forward to your active
participation in our next year USD 75 million slot.

You are requested to contact our clearance officer below to assist you with
your winnings and subsequent payments. all winnings must beclaimed not later
than one month After the date of this notice.Please note, in order to avoid
unnecessary delays and complications, remember to quote your reference
number and batch numbers in all correspondence.Furthermore,should there be
any change of address do inform our agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations once more and thank you for beingpart of our
promotionalprogram.

NOTE: YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLYDISQUALIFIED IF YOU
ARE BELOW 18 YEARS OF AGE.
Sincerely yours,

YOU SHOULD REPLY THIS MAIL TO THIS
OFFICIAL EMAIL ADDRESS BELOW: swisslotto_05@yahoo.co.uk
MRS.FLORENCE BUTT.
(LOTTERY COORDINATOR)


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