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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: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 15:36:34 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Your Email Won The Prize


Your Email Won The Prize
The Spanish Hotball Lotto
REFERENCE #:87/825/TRH
BATCH #: MEG-749-873-439

Sir/Madam,

Being officially assigned to select winners across the
globe, the management is pleased to inform you of the result of the
Hot Lotto Spanish Lottery Winners International E-mail programs held on the
29th September,2008 and result was released on the 31th October,2008. Your
E-mail address attached to ticket number 653-908-321-675 with serial main
number 528-127-196 drew lucky star numbers 25-78-54-36-49 which
consequently won in the 2nd category, you have therefore been approved for
a lump sum pay out of EUR1.500.000.00 Pounds, with REFERENCE
No.:87/825/TRH and BATCH #: MEG-749-873-439.=20

Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep your
winning information confidential until your claims have been
processed and your money remitted to you. This is part of our security
protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by
some participants. All participants were selected through a
computer ballot system drawn from over 100,000 company and 50,000,000
individual email addresses and names from all over the world.=20

This lottery was promoted and sponsored by Software companies in
order to enhance and promote the use of Internet Explorer Users and
Microsoft-wares around the globe.=20
To file for your claim, please contact our foreign service
manager:
Mr Louis E. Greg
email:greglouisconsul@gmail.com
Tel: 34 657 548 514
Foreign Service Manager

Congratulations once more from our members of staff and
thank you for being part of our promotional program.=20

Sincerely,
Carmen Rodriguez
International Online Co-ordinator

Anti-fraud resources: