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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: mrsjams@mchsi.com (Mrs. Carol David)
Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:44:10 +0000
Subject: PRIZE AWARD

UK-LOTTO Headquarters:
United Kingdom

Customer Service
Ref: UK/9420X2/68 AY
Batch #: 074/05/ZY369 AY

WINNING NOTIFICATION

We happily announce to you the draw (#1199) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY online
Sweepstakes International program held up on Wednesday 20th of June 2007 in
MANCHESTER UNITED-KINGDOM.

Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: UK/000056389 with Serial number
4398/05 drew the lucky numbers :(13-16-22-43-47-49) and the bonus number (28)
won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e. match 5. You have therefore been
approved to claim a total sum of £1,000 000 (One Million British pounds
sterling) in cash, credited to file UK/YH/5674325/05.
This is from a total cash prize of £6,000,000 shared amongst the six (6) lucky
winners in this category.

All participants for this online version were selected randomly from World Wide
Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions,
associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online. This particular
promotion sponsored by Yahoo! Inc. takes place monthly. Please note that your
lucky winning numbers falls within our European booklet representative office in
Europe as indicated in your play coupon.In view of this, your £1,000 000 (One
Million British Pound Sterling Only) will be released to you by any of our
payment offices in Europe.

Our claims agent will commence the process immediately to facilitate the release
of your funds as soon as you contact him. For security reasons, you are
advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claim is
processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to
receive your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned!!

To file for your claim, contact our claims agent below with the following
information.

Mr KENNETH ROONEY
Tel: +(44) 7031849344
+(44) 7031849351
+(44)7031843012
E-mail: claimunitdpt@yahoo.co.uk

STATE YOUR NAME AS IT SHOULD APPEAR ON PRIZE CHEQUE .When claiming prize, you
must provide proof of identity that exactly matches your name as
typed below.

FULL NAMES:.....................................................
CONTACT ADDRESS:............................................
CITY/STATE:.......................................................
COUNTRY:...........................................................
NATIONALITY:....................................................
SEX:.......................AGE:.......................................
MARITAL STATUS................................................
TEL NO:................................................................
NEXT OF KIN:.......................................................
ANNUAL INCOME:................................................
AMOUNT WON:.....................................................
REFENCE NO:................BATCH NO:.......................
LUCKY NO:..................TICKET NO.........................
SERIAL NO:.................LOTTERY DATE:..................

Please note the following:

1. All claims are nullified after 20 working days from today.
2. Your Reference number must be in all your mails with the claims officer.
3. Do inform the claims officer of any change of names or addresses.
4. Please do not reply to this email. Contact your claims agent.

This international promotion is proudly sponsored by Yahoo! Inc. to encourage
the use of the Internet and computers worldwide.We are proud to say that over
200 Million Pounds are won annually in more than 150 countries worldwide.
Congratulations once again from all members and staff of this program and thank
you for being part of our promotional lottery program.

Yours faithfully,
Carol David (co-ordinator).
Copyright © 2007 Uk National Lottery Inc.

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