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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 about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: osa_lottery_agent@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Tue, 01 Jan 2002 08:07:07 +0200
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!

SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL LOTTERY
Customer Service /Foreign Claims Dept
Ref: ZA/2031/8161/06
Batch: R3/A312-59

AWARDS NOTIFICATION

We are pleased to inform you of the announcement
today, 10th March 2006, of winners of the SOUTH
AFRICAN/INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY PROGRAMS, held on 4TH
March 2006 as part of our promotional draws.

Participants were selected through a computer ballot
system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of
individuals and companies from Africa, America, Asia,
Australia, Canada, Europe, Middle East, and New
Zealand as part of our electronic business Promotions
Program. You qualified for the draw as a result of you
visiting various websites we are running the
e-business promotions for. You/Your Company, attached
to ticket number 100-309-7482, with serial number
513-10! Drew the lucky numbers 5, 9, 12, 29, 40, 59, +
76, and consequently won in the Second Category.

You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay
out of US$1,950,000.00 in cash, which is the winning
pay out for Second category winners. This is from the
total prize money of US$13,650,000.00 shared among the
seven international winners in the Second category,
CONGRATULATIONS!

Your fund is now deposited with the paying bank,
waiting for further instruction from your claim agent
UMLAZ ATTORNEY CHAMBER, for an immediate disbursement
to you.

Due to the mix up of some numbers and names, we ask
that you keep this award strictly from public notice
until your claim has been processed and your money
remitted to your account.

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double
claiming or unscrupulous acts by participants of this
program.

We hope with a part of your prize, you will
participate in our mid year (2006) high stakes US$1.3
billion International Lottery.

To begin your claim, please contact your claim agent
immediately;

MR. RICHARD UMLAZI
UMLAZI ATTORNEY CHAMBER
3RD FLOOR, STANDARD BANK GALLERIES
70 ELOFF & MARKET STREET JOHANNESBURG 2000
SOUTH AFRICA
Tel/Fax +002783 33 21829
Email: lottery_payment_agent01@yahoo.co.uk
For due processing and remittance of your prize money
to a designated account of your choice. Remember, you
must contact your claim agent not later than 30th
March, 2006.
After this date, all funds will be returned as
unclaimed.

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, please remember to quote your reference
and batch numbers provided below in every one of your
correspondences with your claims agent.

REFERENCE NUMBER: ZA/2031/8161/06
BATCH NUMBER: R3/A312-59
Congratulations once again from all our staff and
thank you for being part of our promotions program.

Sincerely,

MRS. MARIA DU TOIT
PROMOTIONS MANAGER
SOUTH AFRICAN LOTTERY
PRIVATE BAG X50
AUCKLAND PARK 2006
SOUTH AFRICA.

N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the
winners will result to disqualification. Beware of
scams, do contact directly with your claims agent.
For further information about our program you can
visit www.lotto.co.za

Anti-fraud resources: