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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: "Knox Lotto Inc" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <contact@knoxlottouk.com>
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2010 21:11:05 +0100
Subject: lucky

Knox Lotto Inc
Batch Number: 783023042009
Winners Number: 9983728930283
Reference: KN/LO/INC/0783

Dear Winner,

We wish to congratulate you on your email success in our computer vote. This promotional program is aimed at encouraging internet users, it is sponsored by the Horse Race Betting Company.

Your email address was attached to ticket/batch number 82333216788, which drew the lucky numbers as follows: 9983728930283, winning the lottery of £ 500,000.00. (British Pounds)

Contact our trustee representative in London immediately, to claim winnings. E-mail: contact@knoxlottouk.com

Note: All winnings MUST be claimed in 2 weeks otherwise all winnings will be returned to us as unclaimed funds.


Best regards
Dorothy Pierce
(Lottery Coordinator)

Anti-fraud resources: