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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: "matina cole" <matinacole_001@yahoo.cn>
Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 22:46:38 -0600
Subject: PRIZE RELEASE CENTRE

MALAYSIA INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY
PRIZE RELEASE CENTRE
SURIA KLCC 4.12 FLOOR 96,
50450 JALAN AMPANG,
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA.

Attn: Winner,
MALAYSIA INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY AWARD

We happily announce to you the draw of the Malaysia International
celebration lottery Award an International program held in Malaysia.
Your E-mail address attached to ticket, Ticket No: 34-50-01-25-10,
Reference No:TUR/1611/77/07,Batch No:73/7112/EsD,and Serial No: 14-
83-43-44-08, that was held on the 23rd-May-2008. This was randomly
selected by our central computer system, subsequently your lottery
award is in the 2nd category.Your name have therefore been short-
listed to claim a total sum of US$1,000,000.00 (One Million United
States Dollars) in cash. This is from a total cash prize of
US$120,000,000 Million US dollars, shared amongst the first One
Hundred and Twenty(120) lucky winners in this category world-wide.

In view of this, your US$1,000,000.00(One Million United States
Dollars) will be released to you by our bank. Our principal agent
will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of
your funds as soon as you contact him. All participants were selected randomly from World Wide tagged Web sites through computer draw system. You are advice to contact your claim agent immediately.
=========================================================
Mr. Frank Brown
TEL: +601-4223-5621
Email: frankbrown_001@live.com.my
=========================================================
Please provide him with the under listed information,
FULL NAMES:......................................................
CONTACT ADDRESS:.................................................
COUNTRY:.........................................................
NATIONALITY:.....................................................
ZIPCODE:.........................................................
SEX:...................................... AGE:..................
TEL NO:..........................................................
EMAIL ADDRESS:...................................................
OCCUPATION:......................................................
REFERENCE NO:....................................................
BATCH NO:........................................................
TICKET NO:.......................................................
PROMOTION DATE:..................................................
SERIAL NO........................................................

If you do not contact your claims agent within 5 working days of this notification,your winnings would be revoked.
Accept my hearty congratulations once again!
Mrs Matina Cole
Sincerely yours,
Winning Co -ordinator.

N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will
result to Disqualification. Please do not reply to this mail. Contact your claim agent immediately.



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