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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: "NOKIA INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY PROMOTION" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <maryleliamakra@yahoo.cn>
Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2010 18:56:04 +0800
Subject: NOKIA INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY PROMOTION

NOKIA INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY PROMOTION
ALL ASIA GAME 2010, CHINA
Nokia Mobile Corporations China
Customer Service Department
Block A,12/16 F,West Tower
Bldg East Rd,
Beijing China
Dear Winner,
Reference Number #: CN/5420Z6/2010.
This e-mail notification is to inform you that your E-mail Address has won you a cash prize of
(US$500, 000, 00 Dollars) Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only including
Five (5) Free NOKIA PHONES selected from Nokia latest phones as Free Gifts
(Nokia 6790 Surge, Nokia 5730 Xpress Music, Nokia 6730 classic, Nokia 8800, and Nokia E71)
on our online lottery.
Sweepstakes promotion draws held on Friday, 19th of March, 2010 in Beijing China .
The online computer draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 15,000,000
email addresses of Individuals and Corporate bodies picked by an advanced
automated random computer selection from E-mail Address attached to
ticket number:012-0022-0044-778 with Batch Number: 082/19/ZY36.
This subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category.
To file for your claim, please contact us for due processing
and remittance of your prize money by filling the below information:
FULL NAME OF WINNER:................
RESIDENT ADDRESS:...................
NATIONALITY.........................
SEX..................................
COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE :..............
DATE OF BIRTH:......................
OCCUPATION:..........................
PHONE NUMBER........................
Your prize award has been insured with your email address and will be transferred to you upon meeting
the requirement of the gaming board authority which is your statutory obligations.
Be advice that all information pertaining to this
WINNING FUNDS should be kept extremely CONFIDENTIAL
till the funds get to you. This is to avoid DOUBLE claiming of prize.
Congratulations from all members and staff of the promotion.
Yours faithfully,
Mary Lelia MAKRA
Claims Agent
Nokia Asia.
Email:maryleliamakra@yahoo.cn

Anti-fraud resources: