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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: <coordinator@atlpromotions.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 11:59:25 -0400
Subject: Award

ATLANTIC PROMOTIONS INTL
REF NUMBER: ATP/505/998/05
BATCH NUMBER: AT-770-SN13-05
Dear Winner,

We are pleased to inform you that as a result of our recent lottery draw
held on the 4th of April 2006. Your e-mail address attached to ticket
number 00742086-84 with serial number 7759-1882 drew lucky numbers
09-10-23-24-26-29-38, which consequently won in the 2nd category. You have
therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of ?2,000,000.00 (Two
Million Euros only)

Note that all participants in this lottery program have 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
websites. This promotional program takes place every year, and is promoted
and sponsored by eminent personalities like the Sultan of Brunei and other
corporate organizations 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.

You are requested to contact our Lottery coordinator strictly by the email
below: atlcoordinator@netscape.net. This is to assist you with your
winnings and subsequent payments immediately. All winnings must be claimed
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 being part
of our promotional program.

NOTE: YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED IF YOU ARE BELOW 18 YEARS OF AGE
OR SEEN TO DOUBLE CLAIM THROUGH ANY OTHER COORDINATOR.
Sincerely yours

MR. TOM WALKER
(LOTTERY COORDINATOR)
atlcoordinator@netscape.net

Anti-fraud resources: