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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.

 

 

Please note about this email:

Fraud email example:

From: "GIOVANNI VINCENZO" <giovanni_vincenzo@msn.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 00:40:15 +0000
Subject: attention winner(ms-word lottery reprocessing)

MANAGER,INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE
AWARD DEPARTMENT MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT
LOTTERY, UNITED KINGDOM.
89 New Fetter Lane London,EC4A 1AG U.K
MR. TINZO PAOLO
PHONE #:+44 7031943199, +44 7031844897
FAX#: +44 7005980586

Dear Microsoft Mega Jackpot Winner,

Sorry for the time taken to get back to you, I was really busy settling my home, I believe due to the reason that you must pay before receiving your funds, most winners think this whole thing is a hoax or we want to extort money from you, but I, your claims officer reassure you today that nothing like that will happen to you, despite the fact that so many scammers on the internet as turned our names to something else, please, be very careful with your winnings, been a winner of £5.5, million pounds ($10,464,000 USD).I understand that this whole thing is not easy to believe or understand but I tell you today that this is not a joke it is for real.
 
 Today, we give you another chance to claim your won prize, below are the payment options once again, please, choose one that will suit you, If you wish to use a bank transfer and you are already with the courier firm just choose one. I assure you this is not a scam, if you may have been told so, so many people are using our names to scam people, we do not participate in doing that, all that is our problem is that we do not pay any charges for you, you will be responsible for the charges, this charges are quite high due to the insurance cover either the bank or courier firm will use.

 We are going to have our next mega jackpot by next month so we want all unclaimed prizes to be claimed so as to have your pictures to build our web sites, £5.5, million pounds is not a small money to give away just like that, I am only doing this to help you, because if this prize is returned back to us as unclaimed. This will cost you even more than £25,000 pounds to reprocess your prize, believe me, I am a family man with a wife and two kids. 
 
  My name is all over the internet just because of this internet scammers who scam people for their leaving, the UK government is doing their best to catch up with this people, they do everything we do, they pay hackers to hack us down we are facing too many problems here to clear our names, I believe this is all happening just because we just started, I promise you of this, if you are scared to use the courier firm, you can use the bank wire transfer. Below are the options once again.

 These three options has been the best reliable ways of getting won prizes to our winners, mostly international winners who can not make their ways to our cash presentation financial house in  Spain where winners are been paid in cash. Below are the options please, do not choose more than one, just choose one out  of these options. Be aware that you will be responsible for any further charges to be paid to claim your prize. These charges are quiet high due to the insurance taken to secure these winnings as it is not a small Prize.

PAYMENT OPTIONS:
________________

(1) A: BANK SWIFT WIRE TRANSFER
    B: INTER- BANK TRANSFER
    C: BANK DIPLOMATIC TRANSFER

(2): TRAVEL TO OUR OFFSHORE PAYMENT CENTER IN SPAIN WHERE YOU WILL BE PAID FULL IN CASH.
 
(3): BY OUR COURIER FIRM, WHERE THEY WILL COURIER YOUR WINNING CHEQUE TO YOU OR ANY ADDRESS YOU  WISH TO HAVE YOUR CHEQUE COURIERED TO  DIRECTLY TO YOUR LOCAL BANK OR YOUR HOUSE. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO ALSO CHOOSE ONE OF THIS PROCEDURES:

(1): This Bank is reliable and has been one of our major sponsors. They are fast in any form of transfer with the minimum of three days and maximum of five days your funds will appear straight in your designated account. Despite the fact that their minimum activation (Deposit) fee is quiet High I assure you they are reliable.

You will only pay into your new account the minimum of £1,500 GB pounds choose by you before transfer. This money remains in your account and can still be transferred to you along with your Prize/money. You can retain this account if you wish to.
 
 First, you will be asked to choose an account (1. Regular Account. 2.  Daily
Account 3. Premium Account. 4. Platinum Account). Each of this accounts have their different functions. You will also have to activate one this account that you are capable of. By activation you will be asked to make an initial deposit into this new account before transfer that is all.

(2): Travel to our offshore payment center in Spain, where you will be paid in full cash. The only charges involve is that you must have to go there with some money to settle tax and other charges; this will not be more than 3,000 GB pounds.
 
(3): The use of our courier firm, this option is often preferred by most winners. Where your prize/money will be couriered directly to you or your local bank any where you want it. The courier charge is normal with little insurance and administrative charges added. You are to make sure the address of where you want your prize/money couriered to. Be correct with no mistakes. They do not deliver parcels to P.O.BOX they do not allow the use of credit cards this is for security reason. This courier charges are between the ranges of £450 GB Pounds to £650 GB Pounds. No matter where you are located in the World.
 Be aware that nobody is allowed to neither touch nor deduct from your prize/money as it has been insured in your name and to it actual value.

 You are to choose one out of the three pre-requisite of transfer of the aforementioned options or procedures of transfer of your entitled winnings to you. In your next mail you are expected to indicate to us your preferred choice of transfer. You are allowed to reach the Director for further explanations on phone.

I hope to hear from you soon, for now remain Blessed and do have a nice day.

Regards,
 
Mr. Giovanni Vincenzo
E-mail: claims_giovanni02@yahoo.co.uk or claims_giovanni01@yahoo.co.uk
Phone: +44-702-305-3773
PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE TO SEND YOUR REPLY TO YOUR CLAIMS OFFICER AT: claims_giovanni02@yahoo.co.uk or claims_giovanni01@yahoo.co.uk
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