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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Smirnova, Alevtina" <alevtina@engr.uconn.edu>
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2008 04:18:03 -0400
Subject: urgent response

Dear Winner,
I hereby bring to your notice that your Email address was selected online in thisweek's MICROSOFT® SPAM FREE EMAIL AWARD PROMO i.e (your email address was not among spamed
addresses and Microsoft® is offering award to such email owners). Your draw has a total
value of £380,000.00 (THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY THOUSAND POUNDS) from the International
online programs held in London,United Kingdom.
The selection process was carried out from a database of over 1,000,000 email addresses
drawn from all the continents of the world as no purchasing of tickets were required.
The MICROSOFT® SPAM FREE EMAIL AWARD PROMOTION is also approved by the British Gaming
Board and also Licensed by the International Association of Gaming Regulators(IAGR).
This promo is the 1st of its kind and we intend to sensitize the public as we are using
it to promote unanswered "spam mails".
You are adviced to acknowledge the receipt of this mail with the details below to:
Name: Mr,Dennis Anderson.
Email: (msft.prizeclaims@live.com)
for your claims.
Please take note of this message all winners are to send response only to this
email: msft.prizeclaims@live.com for security purpose.
send your message to us at msft.prizeclaims@live.com
Claims Requirements:
1).Full name:
2).Residential Address:
3).Phone Number:
For security reasons,you are advised to keep this information confidential from family
members and close friends until your prizes is released to you. This is part of our
security protocol to avoid double claims and impersonations.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr.Dennis Anderson

Anti-fraud resources: