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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: MICROSOFT PROMO <microsoft@microsoftpromo0.orangehome.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 16 Sep 2006 05:00:03 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: YOU HAVE WON ( CLAIM YOUR PRIZE NOW )






Microsoft Award Team
20 Craven Park, Harlesden
London NW10
United Kingdom


Ref: BTD/968/05
Batch: 409978E

Dear Lucky winner,
WINNING NOTIFICATION
The prestigious Micrsoft and aol has set out and sucessfully organised a Sweepstakes marking the end of year anniversary we rolled out over 5,000.000.00 (five million Great Britain Pounds) for our end of year Anniversary Draws. Participants for the draws were randomly selected and drawn from a wide range of web hosts which we enjoy their patronage.
The selection was made through a computer draw system attaching personalised email addresses to ticket numbers. Bill Gates is sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, you will regret it later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.

Your email address as indicated was drawn and attached to ticket number 008795727498 with serial numbers BTD/9080648302/06 and drew the lucky numbers 14-21-25-39-40-47(20) which subsequently won you 500,000.00 (five Hundred Thousand Great Britain Pounds) as one of the 10 jackpot winners in this draw. You have therefore won the entire winning sum of 500,000.00 (five Hundred Thousand Great Britain Pounds). The draws registered as Draw number one was conducted in Brockley, London United Kingdom on the 30th of JAN 2006. These Draws are commemorative and as such special.

Please be informed by this winning notification,to file your claims,you are to make contact with your designated agent who shall by duty guide you through the process to facilitate the release of your prize.To file for your claim Please Contact your fiduciary agent
Mr Bill Garry
Microsoft Promotion Award Team
Email: billgarry8888@uku.co.uk

You are advised to contact your fiduciary agent with the following details to avoid unnecessary delays and complications:
Prefix (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., etc.):
First name:
Middle name:
Last name:
Date of birth (yyyy-mm-dd):
Gender:
Marital status:
Spouse/significant other:
Lotto Batch Number:
Lotto Reference Numbers:
Preferences:
Home address :
City:
State/province:
Zip/postal code:
Country:
Phone:
Fax:
Mobile/cellular:
E-mail:
Job title:
Occupation:
Company name:
Work address:
Thank you for being part of this promotional award program. Our special thanks and gratitude to Bill Gates and his associates.We wish you the best of luck as you spend your good fortune.Thank you for being part of our commemorative end of year Anniversary Draws.
Sincerely,
Dr. Mike Anderson
Microsoft Promotion Team:

NB:
PLEASE NOTE! Any claim not made before ten (10) working days from date of notification indicate that the winner has voluntarily forfeited his/her winnings

Anti-fraud resources: