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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: "POWER BALL LOTTERY NL" <pb_lotto_nl@msn.com>
Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2006 20:05:10 +0000
Subject: IMPORTANT NOTICE!!! YOU HAVE WON US$1,500,000.

Denmark
POWER BALL LOTTERY,NL
Amsterdam,Netherlands
 
 
FROM THE DESK OF THE COORDINATOR.
POWER BALL LOTTERY, NL.
INTERNATIONAL PRICE AWARD DEPARTMENT.
REF Nš:PB-NL/175648323/05
BATCH Nš:8796-0178/NL-01                             
       
                          WINNING NOTIFICATION FOR CATEGORY "A" WINNER ONLY
 
We the Board and Management of POWER BALL LOTTERY,NL wishes to inform you the results of the last annual draw of our lottery in which you emerged as the winner in the grand category "A". It is yet to be claimed and you are getting the final NOTIFICATION as regards this.
This results is today released to you and Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:
 
           65676776886787
You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of US$1,500,000.00 (ONE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) in cash credited to your file number file NLA/175463/12/05. 
                                                     
This is from a total cash prize shared amongst the 6 lucky winners in the various categories.
Please note that no entries were made and no tickets were purchsed. The online cyber lotto draw was conducted from an exclusive list of 82,000,000 e-mail addresses of individual and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the
internet. After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail address emerged as the winner in the grand category, Category "A". You are therefore to receive a cash prize of $1,500,000.00 (One Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) from the total payout.

                              
 
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Your prize award has been insured with your e-mail address and will be transferred to you upon meeting our requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and satisfactory report. To file in for the processing of your prize winnings, you are advised to contact our Certified and Accredited claims agent for category "A" winners with the information below:
*************************************************
Name:Alex Carlton
Email:claims_office@walla.com
     
claimsinquiry@netscape.net
Tel : +31 64 930 4642
Fax : +31 84 720 7950
*************************************************
You are advice to provide him with the following information:
Names:
Telephone/Fax number:
Nationality:
Age:
 
NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 14 days, thereafter unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake. Remember to quote your reference information in all correspondence.
You are to keep all lotto information confidential, especially your reference and ticket numbers.
(This is important as a case of double claims will not be entertained). Members of the affiliate agencies are automatically not allowed to participate in this program. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some Participants.

Endeavor to Quote your reference/batch numbers in your correspondence with your claims officer and you are advised  not to expose your numbers to avoid double clamming  and unwarranted abuse of this program otherwise your winnings will be void Please be warned.
Should you have any question or need any help, please contact your claims officer.
ANYONE BELOW EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE CAN MAKE HIS/ HER CLAIM IN PROXY THROUGH EITHER PARENTS/GUARDIAN. 
 
Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform our agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for being part of our promotional program.

Yours Faithfully,
Walter Jones.
Lottery Coordinator.
 
Below are some of our corporate sponsors.   

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