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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: gregwoodman@hotmail.co.uk
Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2008 06:07:33 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: UNIVERSAL NETWORKS AWARD EMAIL LOTTERY


I have a new email address!You can now email me at: woodman.greg@yahoo.com



- REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/ES, BATCH NO: 4583JL/WIN/IDS, LUCKY SECRET CODE No: 01974 UNIVERSAL NETWORKS INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY FOR WORLD INTERNET USERS, PROMOTION OF 2008,FROM DESK OF {UNIVERSAL NETWORKS AWARD EMAIL LOTTERY}YOUR EMAIL ID HAS WON $2,000,000.00 (Two Million US Dollars) in the first category of our computer ballot email lottery.No ticket was sold but it is to encourage the user of Internet and to claim your winning prize contact the paying agent office viathis email, send the following to the claim department: Full names and residential address. All winnings must be claimed not later than 30days.Note also winners under the age of 18 years are automatically disqualifiedSincerely Yours, Mr. Greg Woodman.


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