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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: spanish@spanish72.orangehome.co.uk
Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2007 17:34:22 +0100 (CET)
Subject: FOR CATEGORY "A" WINNER ONLY


FOR CATEGORY "A" WINNER ONLY
COMPUTER BALLOT JACKPOT 'A' DRAW RESULT.
FREE LOTTO COMPANY AWARD DEPARTMENT
FREE LOTTO HEADQUARTERS:
CUSTOMER SERVICE/AWARD DEPT.
WINNING EMAIL NOTIFICATION.
Dear Lucky Winner,
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Free Lotto International programs drawn today, 13/01/2007. Your E-mail address attached to Ticket number:334/ 660078 with Serial number 05908 drew the lucky numbers 9-43-97, which consequently won in the 1st category, you have therefore been approved for a lump sum payout of $1,500,000.00USDollars. (One Million, Five Hundred United States Dollars).
This is from a total cash prize of US$125 Million dollars shared amongst the lucky winners in this grand category.
This year's Lottery Program Jackpot (LPJ) is the largest ever for Free Lottery. The estimated $125 million jackpot would be the sixth-biggest in free lotto
history. Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in our play coupon.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
In view of this, your US$1,500,000.00USDollars. (One Million, Five Hundred United States Dollars). would be released to you by our affiliate Bank while our agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your prize soon as you make contact with them. All participants were selected randomly from 'World Wide Web' sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 companies.
This promotion takes place periodically. For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims is processed. This is a part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements.
To file for your claim, please contact our /your processing agent
CONTACT:
**********************************************
Paul Vanfrant
Email:loterijAdraws@aol.co.uk
spanishAdraws@aol.co.uk
Tel : +34-692-967-891
**********************************************
You are advice to provide him with the following information:
Names:
Telephone/Fax number:
Nationality:
Age:
Company (if any):
Winning reference and Batch numbers:
Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for being part of our promotional program.
Yours truly,
Walter Jones
Promotion Manager.
THANK YOU AND CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Anti-fraud resources: