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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 PROMOTION TEAM <paulwilliamsx16@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <paulwilliams_lottox11@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2007 03:03:18 +0000
Subject:



Microsoft Award Team20 Craven Park, HarlesdenLondon NW10United KingdomRef.: BTD/968/05Batch: 409978EDear Winner, WINNING NOTIFICATIONThe prestigious Microsoft and AOL has set out and successfully organised a Sweepstakes marking the year 2007 anniversary we rolled out over £750.000.00 (Seven Hundred And Fifty Thousand Great BritainPounds) for our 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 attachingpersonalised 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 remainsthe 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 £750,000.00 ( Seven Hundred And Fifty Thousand Great Britain Pounds) as one of the 10 jackpot winners in this draw. You have therefore won the sum of £750,000.00 (Seven Hundred And Fifty Thousand Great Britain Pounds). The draws registered as Draw number one was conducted in Brockley,London United Kingdom on the 2nd of July 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.Gabriel MichaelMicrosoft Promotion Award TeamEmail: microsoftawarddeptx@yahoo.co.uk You are advised to contact your fiduciary agent with the following details to avoid unnecessary delays and complications: 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. Paul WilliamsMicrosoft Promotion Team
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http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=TAGWL_June07

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