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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: "UK National Lottery." <jsmith@mail.az>
Reply-To: smithj_2008@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 15:39:50 -0700
Subject: Winning Notification.

UK NATIONAL LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION
28 TANFIELD ROAD
CROYDON.LONDON
Reference Number: UK010105JAN
Batch:JAN/1051/05
Sir / Madam
We happily announce to you the draw (#954) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program.Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 013-2316-2002-577 with Serial Number: A025-09, Drew lucky numbers: (13)-(43)-(06)-(15)-(02)-(40) bonus # (09). which consequently won in the 2nd category. You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £1,000,000.00 (One Million Pounds Sterling) shared among the first ten (10) lucky winners in this category. All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from over 300,000 companies and 40,000,000 individual email addresses and names from all over the world. Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep your Winning information confidential until your claims have been processed and your money paid out to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participa
nts. To file for your claims, please contact our CLAIM AGENT and do not forget to summit the following to our Claim Agent .
(1) Your Full Names:
(2) Telephone Number:
(3) Reference Number:
CLAIM AGENT
Mr. John Smith
Tel: +44 702 403 1411
Tel: +44 703 194 7238
Fax: +44 700 580 3011
Email: smithj_2008@yahoo.co.uk
Please, be aware that our Paying Bank will remit Payment Swiftly upon satisfactory report, Verifications and validations provided by our processing Agent that would be designated to your file. Remember, all winning must be CLAIMED not later than 15th of September 2006. After this date all unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake. Please note that in other to avoid unnecessary delays and complications remember to quote your reference information in all correspondence. Furthermore, should there be any eventual change of information please inform our Agent as quickly as possible.
Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thanks for being part of our promotional program. Note: Anybody under the age of 16 is automatically disqualified. Members of the affiliate agencies are automatically not allowed to participate in this program.
Yours truly,
Mrs. Sarah Jones.
Games / Lottery Coordinator.
Central Europe Zone.


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