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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: "Microsoft E-mail Promotions" <info@microsoft.com>
Reply-To: ivan.nickerson@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:19:32 -0200 (FNT)
Subject: Official Prize Notification

Official Prize Notification

The MICROSOFT EMAIL PROMO TEAM is glad to announce that
after a successful completion of the PROMO DRAWS held on the
21st June 2010, your e-mail address,attached to winning
numbers:(11) (80) (12)(96) (09) (43) won in the Tenth
lottery category.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of
£250,000,00 GBP(Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great British
Pounds Sterling) in cash credited to file REF NO:MICRO-L/2009-END10,
BATCH NO:2009MJL-05, this is from a total prize money of
£3,750,000 (Three Million,Seven hundred and Fifty Thousand
British Pounds Sterling),shared among the Twenty five (25)
international winners in this category.

All participants were selected through our Microsoft computer
ballot system drawn from 167,000 Names,as part of our
International \"E-MAIL"\ Promotion Program for our prominent
MS-WORD users all over the world and for the continuous use
of the internet. You are advised to contact the claims
processor with the details below via his e-mail address :

NAME: Ivan Nickerson
EMAIL: ivan.nickerson@hotmail.com

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE TO SEND THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION TO
CLAIM YOUR WINNINGS:

1.Full Name....................................
2.Address:....................................
3.Phone:...............Fax:...................
4.Country:....................................
5.Sex/Gender...................................

In order to avoid unnecessary delay and complications,please
remember to quote your reference and winning ticket number in
all correspondence with your claims officer.Your secret pin
code is ML0757985.Be warned that cases of double claims and
unwarranted abuse of this program will be legally pursued.



YOURS SINCERELY,
DOROTHY CAMPBELL.

Anti-fraud resources: