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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: FRED SMITH <winning.claims@airfreightcouriercompany.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 06:53:13 +0000
Subject: ATTNl:CLAIMS OPTION






AIR FRIEGHT COURIER AGENT
(REG NO: 194562)



REG ORDER NO:657252 ATTENTION: CLIENT,
This is to inform you that you have been officially cleared for payment by the verifications Dept. at the headquarters of the Uk Lottery International. The original copy of this certificate, together with a covering document (Money Laundering protection and Letter of Affidavit forClaims) from the British government stating that the money was obtained legally through their National Lotto will be sent to you and the bank as soon as you meet with any of the option selected and your winnings will be couriered or transferred to you immediately. You can now begin the final step of the claims process, which is the transferring of your cash prize to you. With regards to this, there are two options open to you, you are required to select the most convenient of the two.The options, together with their associated conditions are presented below:
Option 1: COURIER DELIVERY Courier of your winning details to you via any of this channel listed below:


(2working days)




Mailing
£275.00
00.00

Insurance
£240.00
00.00

Vat (5%)
£276.75
00.00

TOTAL
£791.75
00.00
(3 working days)




Mailing &n bsp
£290.00
00.00

Insurance
£100.00
00.00

Vat (5%)
£199.95
00.00

TOTAL
£600.95
00.00

(7working days)



Mailing
£278.00
00.00

Insurance
£180.00
00.00

Vat (5%)
£135.45
00.00

TOTAL
£583.45
00.00Forward the cost of mailing your draft/cheque with any of the courier channel cost you choose above to us. Option 2: BANK TRANSFER CHARGES
The said amount claim 1.500,000.00 pounds (One Million, Five Hundred Thousand pounds) will be wired to your bank account via swift bank transfer.Condition: The cost of COT (commission of transfer) being charged by our transferring bank is(i.e £1,500GBP) of the cash being transferred will be paid by you.Note: That your prize is protected by a insurance policy , which makes it impossible to deduct any amount from the money before it has been remitted to you. This means that the above charges cannot be deducted from the prize and hence must be provided by you first before your prize is transferred to you.

Please respond to this email by making a selection from the two options above. Also attach a scanned copy of either your driver's licence, international passport (photo page) or any other legally identifying document.Also be reminded that the deadline for the claiming of winnings is exactly two weeks after the receipt of this email. After this period, your cash prize will be deemed to have been forfeited by you and will be reused in the drawings of the next edition of the lottery.

Good luck and Congratulations once again. Please send your response within the next 24hrs to this same email address.

BEST REGARDS,

MR FRED SMITH
(dispatch officer)

Anti-fraud resources: