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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: "online lottery" <uk_online_lottery50@msn.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 19:19:45 +0000
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION

EURO-AMERICAN-LOTTERY Headquarters:
Customer Service
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

WINNING NOTIFICATION:

It is with great pleasure we announce to you, the draw of the
EURO-AMERICAN-LOTTO Sweepstake Online Lottery International programs held
on the 19th of january, 2006 in BRESIA ITALY Your e-mail address attached to
ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial number 5368/02drew the lucky
numbers:19-6-26-17-35-7, which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd
category.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of Five Hundred
Thousand United States Dollars(US$500,000.00) in cash credited to file
ktu/9023118308/03.This is from a total cash prize of US $ 5 Million
dollars, shared amongst the first Ten (10) lucky winners in this category.
All participants
were randomly selected from World Wide Web site through computer draw
system and extracted from over 100,000 companies.

This promotion takes place annually. 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 Five Hundred Thousand
United States Dollars(US$500, 000.00)would be released to you by our payment
office 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 enjoined 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 by some unscrupulous elements.Please, be
adviced. To file for your claim, please contact our
fiduciary agent:

Mr. Tony Beny.
Email: tonybeny2@yahoo.co.uk

To avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, please quote the following: YOUR FULL NAMES, AGE, SEX,
COUNTRY, PRIVATE TELEPHONE & FAX NUMBER AND YOUR REFERENCE/BATCH
NUMBERS etc in any correspondences with our designated agent. Once
again, Congratulations.
Sincerely,
RITA JONES.
EURO-AMERICAN-LOTTO Co-ordinator .


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