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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Mr.Carlos Moreno Lopez <laprimitivas@aim.com>
Date: Sat, 12 May 2007 16:21:14 +0200
Subject: Contact Your authorized Agent


La Primitiva Loterias
International promotion / Prize award dept.
Madrid - Spain.
REF: LP/26510460037/07
BATCH NO: 24/00319/IPD
May 8th, 2007.
Dear Eligible Winner,
As authorized payment agents, we are required by law to disburse the first round award of the La Primitiva Spanish Sweepstake Lottery International Promotion programs held on May 4th, 2007 which amount to US$946,000.00 (Nine hundred & fourty six thousand United States Dollars Only). This is from the total cash prize of USD$5,368,770.00 (Five million, three hundred & sixty eight thousand, seven hundred & seventy US Dollars only) disburse among winners in three (3) different categories.
Participants were selected through a random computer ballot selection drawn from 25,000 names / email addresses of individuals and companies from the five continent of the world. This is inline with our recent resolve to promote the Spanish lottery to the international community.
Your name and email was attached to:

Ticket #: 033-1146993-750 with
Serial #: 1223-07
Draw lucky #: 02 – 06 – 20 – 24 – 29 – 32
These numbers entitled you to lottery winnings in the first category. Your winning is therefore credited to file Ref No: LP/26510460037/07 and Batch No: 24/00319/IPD. To submit your claim for verification and further payment, You are advice to contact the under listed authorized claim agent:
MR. MICHEL SARDA
ACTUALIDAD FINANZAS S. A.
FOREIGN OPERATION MANAGER
Tlf Nº: 0034 657760296
Email: michel.sarda@ozu.es
It's the official duty of the authorized claim agent to verify that you have the winning first round claim numbers before he can send this money to you. All prize money must be claimed not later than six (6) weeks from the date of this notice. You must act before the deadline date stated above or your claim will be void and the funds will definitely be distributed to some other claimant.
Your provisional Claim Code in conjunction with your name and email address is yours and yours alone, and has not been issued to any other person. Winners e-mail addresses and other personal information are kept in secure databases to protect our winners privacy.
Note: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your reference and batch number in every of your correspondence with your agent.
Congratulations once again from all members of our staff.
Sincerely,
Mr. Carlos Moreno Lopez
Vice President / Disbursement Officer.

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