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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: "O'Flaherty, Erin A." <eaoflaherty@stthomas.edu>
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 06:46:00 -0500
Subject: Email Draw Notification





Dear Lucky Winner,

We are pleased to notify you of the draw (1152) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,
Online Sweepstakes International Lottery Program held on 19th April 2008.

Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from a
pool of over 25,000,000 Emails of distinguished professionals drawn from
Europe, America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Middle-East, parts of Africa,
and North & South America as part of our international promotions programme
conducted annually to encourage prospective overseas entries.

We hope with part of your prize awards, you will take part in our subsequent
lottery jackpots.

The result of our computer draw (1152) selected your email address attached
to e-ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the
lucky numbers: 15. 25. 29. 35. 39. 40 (Bonus no.11), which subsequently won
you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e. match 5 plus bonus. You have
therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £4,500,000.00 (Four Million
Five Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling) in cash credited to file
BNKJ/1740161514/03.

Your prize award has been insured in your name and is ready for claims.

To begin your claims therefore, you are advised to expeditiously contact our
licensed and accredited claim agent for Overseas Lottery Winners within a
period of 21 days (date of this email inclusive) for the processing of your
winning and remittance to your designated bank account after all statutory
obligations have been satisfactorily dispensed with. You may wish to
establish contact via e-mail with the particulars presented below citing the
batch and reference numbers to this letter between the hours of 8.00am -
7.30pm on Monday through Friday.

Overseas Claims Unit
United Kingdom Lottery Fiduciary
Contact Person: Thomas Kings
Tel: +44-704-578-2319
Email: claim1152dept@sbcglobal.net <mailto:claim1152dept@sbcglobal.net>


In line with the governing rules of claim, you are requested to furnish Your
Claim Agent With the following information:

1. Full name...........
2. Address............
3. Occupation............
4. Tel/Fax............



Anti-fraud resources: