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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: Online Sweepstakes®<megamillionpicknplay@luckymail.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:20:40 GMT
Subject: Congratulations


INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS DEPT.
Dear Lucky Winner!!!

CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE WON USD$500,000.00
You have emerged the 2010 MICROSOFT promotions award winner
of our yearly promotions.Your email which drew the winning number,was selected via our E-
games Random Selection System (ERSS). You have been approved for a
payment of USD$500,000.00 (Five hundred Thousand United States Dollars) in cash credited to file reference
number:ORDER-NUMBER (GX22589420 which is deposited with a Finance & Security Company in
your favour as beneficiary and covered with HIGH INSURANCE POLICY.
To begin your claim, you are to contact our accredited claims agent with the following information:
FULL NAME:-
HOME ADDRESS:-
AGE:-
NATIONALITY:-
OCCUPATION:-
TELEPHONE :-
FAX:-
GENDER/SEX:-
WINNING E-MAIL ADDRESS:-
================================================
MR.GIOVANNI TRAPANI
TEL: +39 388 194 5534
Email: lotto@picknplaylotto.com
===============================================

Yours Sincerely,
DR. MRS LAURA GREEN
NEVER SEND SPAM. IT IS BAD.

Anti-fraud resources: