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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: "WINNERS' ASSOCIATION" <award_notificationyhnbs@gmx.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:52:38 +0900
Subject: [URGENT]: WINNER! Contact your Agent

FROM THE DESK OF THE DIRECTOR: INTERNATIONAL PRIZE AWARD DEPT WINNING
NOTIFICATION FOR CATEGORY "A" WINNER ONLY (FINAL NOTICE)

ATTENTION: WINNER

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the last final annual draw of
our
LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL Programs. The online cyber lotto draws was conducted
from an exclusive list of 25,000,000 e-mail addresses of individuals and
corporate institutions, picked by an advanced automated random computer
search from the internet. No tickets were sold.

After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail address emerged as a
winner in the category "A" with the following numbers attached Ref Number:
PW 9590 ES 9414,Batch Number: 573881545-NL/2005 and Ticket Number: PP 3502
/8707-01.

You are therefore to receive a cash prize of $2,500,000.00. (Two 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: Shaun Wheeler
Tel: +31 644 893 526
Email: admin@foreignbureau.net
Email: foreignservicesc@aim.com
***************************************************************************
********************************
You are advised to provide him with the following information:

1. Given Name (As Stated in your ID)
2. Telephone/Fax number:
3. Nationality:
4. 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 lottery information confidential, especially your
reference and ticket numbers. (This is important as a case of double claim
will not be tolerated). Members of affiliated agencies are PROHIBITED from
participating in this program.

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.

regards,

Walter Jones.
Lottery Coordinator.

**This email may contain confidential and/or privileged information. The
information is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity named
above. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure,
copying, distribution or use of the contents is prohibited. If you have
received this electronic transmission in error, please notify the sender by
telephone or return email and delete the material from your computer.**


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