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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: "FROM SELECT AWARD" <selectlotto@sify.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: regionalfins@gawab.com
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 22:29:55 +0200
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS

FROM SELECT AWARD!!!

FROM THE DESK OF THE DIRECT
SELECTLOTTO INTERNATIONAL AWARD NL.
PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD DEPT.
DAAWERK 100A, 1103KA
AMSTERDAM THE NETHERLANDS.

We are pleased to inform you the result of the computer random selection for the SELECT LOTTERY International program held on 05th July 2007.Your personal or company email address, attached to ticket number 205-11465886-629, with serial number 3772-99 drew the lucky numbers 7-14-17-23-31-44, and consequently won the lottery in the 2nd category.

The email lottery draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 900,000.000 e-mail addresses of individual, companies, and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search ballot system from the Internet.All participants email addresses were extracted/selected through a computer balloting system drawn from 900,000.000 email addresses from all over the world as part of our International Promotions Program, which is conducted annually.No tickets were sold.It was a promotional program from our software department in promoting the benefit of the Internet usage.

You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of (Seven hundred and fifty thousand Euros) 750.000 Euros in cash credited to file REF NO: Ref.No NLD/2300786008/06.Batch No 10/044/SLN This is from total prize money of 4.5 million Euros shared among several international lucky winners in this category.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Your funds have now been deposited and insured with our affiliate security firm for transfer into your nominated bank account either by means of wire transfers through any of our correspondent banks or any other means suitable to you. We also advice that you keep your winning information very confidential as our security policy demands to avoid double claims/impersonation and unwarranted taking advantage of this program by participants.

To begin your claims, you are urgently requested to contact our claims agent (Regional Finance) Amsterdam-Netherlands immediately with your telephone number and fax numbers, and make sure you quote your, REF NO: NLD/2300786008/06,Batch No: 10/044/SLN your name and contact details in all your correspondence with the finance institute.

Your allocated claims agent details are as follows.
Company Name:Regional Finance
Officer in Charge: Mr.Andrea Henrik
E-mail: regionalfins@gawab.com

LOTTERY PAYMENT APPLICATION FORM
(To be completed by lottery winners only)
Ticket Number: ...............................................
Reference Number:............................................
First Name: ......................................................
Last Name:.....................................................
Home Address:..................................................
Town/City: .....................................................
Post Code: ......................................................
Country: ............................................................
Telephone (Home): .........................................
Mobile: ............................................................
Fax (Private): ...................................................
Fax (Office): .....................................................
Email Address: ................................................
Date of Birth: ...................................................
Occupation: ....................................................
Marital Status: ....................................................
I.............................???hereby declare that the above information are
true and binding on me. If at any time it is discovered that I have given false
information, I will forfeit my rights to my winnings.theabove detailed information will be absolutely necessary to file in your claims.
*********************************************************************
Note that, all winnings must be claimed not later than Two Weeks
starting from today 06th July 2007,
*********************************************************************
You may be required to provide any of the above information during the process of collecting your prize.


We congratulate you once again and it is our hope that you participate in any of our international programs in the nearest future.
After this date all unclaimed funds will be return to the promotion company.

Yours sincerely,
Mrs Eliza Bosch (Lottery Coordinator)


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