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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 Award Promo" <msw_awrdpr3@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: microsoftawardclaimsagent08@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 14:42:26 -0500
Subject: CONGRATULATION!! YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS EMERGED AS A WINNER IN THE MICROSOFT AWARD

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

Ref: BTD/968/05
Batch: 409978E

Dear Lucky Winner,
                         WINNING NOTIFICATION
        The prestigious Microsoft and aol has set out and sucessfully organised a Sweepstakes marking the  New year 2007 anniversary, we rolled out over 1,000,000,00 (One 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. 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 1,000,000,00 (One Million Great Britain Pounds) as one of the 10 jackpot winners in this draw. You have therefore won the entire winning sum of 1,000,000,00 (One Million Great Britain Pounds). The draws registered as Draw number one was conducted in Brockley, London United Kingdom on the 25th of Jan 2007. 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 George Simmons
Microsoft Promotion Award Team
Email:microsoftawardclaimsagent08
@yahoo.co.uk

Phone: +44-701-115-3282
Fax:   +44-704-570-3758
You are advised to contact your fiduciary agent with the following details filled to avoid unnecessary delays and complications:
                       MICROSOFT AWARD VERIFICATION FORM                     
Name
Prefix (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., etc.):
First name:
Middle name:
Last name:
Nickname:
Maiden name:
Suffix (Sr., Jr., II, III, etc.):
Personal
Date of birth (yyyy-mm-dd):
Gender: Male Female
Marital status:
Spouse/significant other:
Lotto Batch Number
Lotto Reference Numbers
Preferences
Preferred address for correspondence: Home Work/business
Home address and phone
Address:
City:
State/province:
Zip/postal code:
Country:
Phone:
Fax:
Mobile/cellular:
Internet at home
E-mail:
Home page:
Employment and business
Job title:
Occupation:
Company name:
Work address:
City:
State/province:
Zip/postal code:
Country:
Phone:
Fax:
Mobile/cellular:
Transfer Options 
Swift Transfer(Online Transfer)Yes or No
Courier delivery of cheque: Yes or No
Visit our office for claim of your winning: Yes or No
Upon the reciept of the transfer or delivery of your winning cheque/winning certificate, You should send us your personal contact phone number so the bank or courier company can contact you of the duelly filled claims form, our  lawyer will notify the British Gaming Board (BGB), so as to give approval to our paying bank,courier and diplomatic company, the permission to make it to you by phone and email.
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 new year Anniversary Draws.
 
Sincerely,
Dr. Bryan McDonald
Microsoft Promotion Team.


 Microsoft


Don’t miss your chance to WIN 10 hours of private jet travel from Microsoft® Office Live --

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