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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: "julia simson" <juliasimson1@mobimail.mn>
Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 01:19:10 -0700
Subject: WINNER


*UK LOTTERY *
*UK HEAD OFFICE *
*SUITE 23-30,LION TOWERS *
*CENTRAL LONDON ENGLAND*
**
*Dear Winner, *
**
**
*We are please to announce you as one of the 10 lucky winners in the
FreeLotto draw held on the 28th of June, 2008. All 10 winning addresses
were randomly selected from a batch of 50,000,000 international emails.Your
email address emerged alongside 9 others as a category 2 winner in this
year's Annual FreeLotto Draw. Consequently,you have therefore been approved
for a total pay out of USD900.000.00(Nine hundred thousand United States
Dollars) only. *
*The following particulars are attached to your lotto payment order:*
**
*(i) winning numbers: 37-13-43-85-67-11 *
*(ii) email ticket number: FL754/22/76 *
*(iii) lotto code number: FL09622UK *
*(iv) the file Ref number: FL/04/736207152/UK *
*Please contact the underlisted claims officer as soon as possible for the
immediate release of your winnings:*
**
**
**
*Mr Vin Khumalo *
*E-mail Address:vinkhumalo@webmail.co.za<Address%3Avinkhumalo@webmail.co.za>
*
*Tel:+27734435913*
*N.B:Steps to claiming your prize; *
**
*1.Please quote your Reference number in all correspondence with the claims
officer. *
*2.Winners should send to claim officer account detail or address where
they want their prize paid or sent. *
*3.Winners must send thier names,address,telephone number and means of
identification (international passport or drivers licence)to claim officer,
via email or fax, to process the immediate payment of your prize. *
*Once again on behalf of all our staff, *

*CONGRATULATIONS!!! *

**
**
*Sincerely, *
*Julia Simsom Smith. *
*Promotions Manager *

Anti-fraud resources: