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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: "Mystery Shopping Company" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <application_shopper@gala.net>
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2010 21:24:27 +0100
Subject: Applications For Qualified Individuals To Become Mystery Shoppers

Mystery Shopping Company.

Douglas Stafford is accepting applications for qualified individuals to become mystery shoppers. It's fun and rewarding, and you
choose when and where you want to shop. You are never obligated to accept an assignment. There is no charge to become a
shopper and you do not need previous experience. After you sign up, you will have access to training materials via e-mail, fax or
postal mail.

ABOUT US

Douglas Stafford is the premier mystery shopping company, serving clients across America, Canada,Australia and the UK with over 500,000
shoppers available and ready to help businesses better serve their customers. Continual investment in the latest internet and
communication technologies coupled with over 16 years of know-how means working with Douglas Stafford is a satisfying and
rewarding experience. Secret shopping as seen on ABC NEWS, NBC NEWS, L.A.TIMES.

Mystery Shopping provides an insight into what happens when hard won prospective buyers are in contact with your sales and
customer service teams. Douglas Stafford’s range of Mystery Shopping services cover every aspect of the customer experience –
on-site and face-to-face, on the telephone and electronically, through your website.

Our national team of specialist mystery shoppers act as your ears and eyes in revealing the communication, customer handling
and sales skills of your employees. Their findings provide a vital benchmark from which you can create improvement
programmes and initiatives that will enhance and develop your organization's performance to the highest levels. Using Mystery
Shopping as a continuous process, you can evaluate these programmes on a regular basis, making improvements and
adjustments as and when necessary.

Mystery Shopping needn’t only be used as a means of evaluating your team’s performance. The tool can be used as a means of
judging the performance of your competitors. Visiting or dealing with a competitive organization, our Mystery Shoppers can
provide revealing information on the strategies, tactics and service levels you are up against in the battle for sales.

Stores and organizations such as The Gap, Wal-Mart, Pizza Hut, and Bank. One amongst many others pay for Secret Shoppers to
shop in their establishments and report their experiences. On top of being paid for shopping you are also allowed to keep
purchases for free. Douglas Stafford NEVER charge fees to the shopper. Training, tips for improvement, and shopping
opportunities are provided free to registered shoppers. Mystery shoppers are either paid a pre-arranged fee for a particular shop, a
reimbursement for a purchase or a combination of both.

Douglas Stafford has available for immediate assignment an inspection of the customer service of any Wal-Mart in your area. You
are to shop secretly and invest just $10. This fee will be paid upfront. During this shop you will visit the location and make
several observations as regards the customer service.

You will be required to interact with the shop clerk.

The assignment will pay $200.00/ Assignment

Kindly Fill Out the application form below and we will get back to you shortly with the assignment:

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Full Name :
Street Address:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Cell Phone Number:
Home Phone Number:
Age:
Current Occupation:
Email Address:

AVAILABILITY:

Days/Hours Available

Monday .............................................
Tuesday .............................................
Wednesday .............................................
Thursday .............................................
Friday .............................................
Saturday .............................................

Hours Available: from _______ to ______

We await your urgent response.

Sincerely,

Harry Green
Douglas Stafford
Supervisor
© 2009 Douglas Stafford All Rights Reserved.

This e-mail is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient you must not disclose or use the information contained within. If you have received it in error please return it to the sender via reply e-mail and delete any record of it from your system. The information contained within is not the opinion of Edith Cowan University in general and the University accepts no liability for the accuracy of the information provided.

CRICOS IPC 00279B

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