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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: "REGINARD SMITH" <mrsreginard06@rediffmail.com>
Date: 30 Nov 2006 10:29:46 -0000
Subject: LOTTERY CENTRAL WINNER!






LOTTERY CENTRAL PROMO INT\'L.LONDON, ENGLAND.REF NUMBER: OSL/653/029/03 BATCH NUMBER: AT-040-SB06-03
DEAR WINNER,&nbsp;WE ARE PLEASED TO INFORM YOU THAT AS A RESULT OF OUR RECENT LOTTERY CENTRAL DRAWS HELD ON THE 28TH OF NOV. 2006.&nbsp;Your e-mail address attached to ticket number 27522465896-532 with&nbsp; serial number 652-662 drew lucky numbers 7-14-18-23-31-45 which&nbsp; consequently won in the 2nd category. you have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of $1,800,000&nbsp; (ONE MILLION,EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND US DOLLARS).&nbsp;Note that All participants in this lottery program have been selected&nbsp; randomly through a computer ballotting system drawn from over 20,000&nbsp; companies and 30,000,000 individual email addresses from all search engines&nbsp; and web sites. This promotional program takes place every year, and is promoted and sponsored by eminent personalities like the SULTAN of&nbsp; BRUNEI, BILL GATES of Microsoft Inc, YAHOO INC. and other corporate organisations&nbsp; to encourage the use of the internet and computers worldwide. For security purpose and clarity, we advise that
you keep your winning&nbsp; information confidential until your claims have been processed and your Check or cash remitted to you.&nbsp;This is part of our security protocol to avoid&nbsp; double claims and unwarranted abuse of this program by some fraudulent lottery companies, we advice you read from our websites such email that look like ours but not ours.&nbsp;
We sincerely look forward to your active participation in our Lotto Hoppicks,lotto Extra, and Thurderball participation of $25 million USD slot.&nbsp;To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent,
MR JOHN HOPKINSE-mail: martins_parkers@myway.com or lotterycentralpromo@yahoo.co.uk

Remember,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,&nbsp; remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all&nbsp; correspondence. Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform&nbsp; our agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations once more and thank you for being part of our&nbsp; promotional program.

NOTE: YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED IF YOU ARE BELOW 18 YEARS OF AGE. PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AND DO NOT RESPOND TO ANY OTHER MAIL NOT FROM US TO AVOID SCAMMERS. ALL LOTTERY RESULT WILL BE DISPLACE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AS YOU WILL BE GIVEN ACCESS TO OUR WEBSITE DATABASE RESULT PAGE WHEN YOU REPLIED. AT LOTTERY CENTRAL RESULT UPDATES.

&nbsp;Sincerely yours,
MRS REGINARD SMITH
(LOTTERY CO-ORDINATOR)LONDON, ENGLAND
www.lotterycentral.co.uk

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