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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: "Free Lotto Sweepstakes" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <freelottosweeps1@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:25:49 +0200
Subject: LUCKY WINNER (REPLY NEEDED)

Free Lotto Sweepstakes
 
141 TOYOTA BUILDING,OFFICE 12,CAMBAWELL,LONDON SE18 4BE.UNITED KINGDOM
 
Tel: +44 702 406 5981
 
Fax: +44 8709747694
 
Email: freelottosweeps1@aol.com
 
 
 
 
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of ?1,000,000,00 (one
 
million British Pounds sterling) and a car, ( Toyota Camry) for the New Year
 
Prize Promotion which is Organized by The FreeLottoSweepstakes.
 
 
 
 
The Free Lotto Sweepstakes! collects all the email addresses of the people that
 
are active online in the pass year, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo
 
and Hotmail and few from other e-mail providers. Six people are selected
 
monthly to benefit from this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners.
 
 
 
Your email address was selected randomly from over 100,000 internet websites or
 
a shop's cash invoice around your area in which you might have purchased
 
something from.
 
 
 
BATCH NUMBER: YPA/07-43658h
 
REFERENCE NUMBER: 3007234522-2010
 
PIN: 1206
 
 
 
FILL AND RETURN WITHIN 3 DAYS
 
 
 
Full Name...............
 
Telephone Number..........
 
Residential Address..........
 
Marital Status..............
 
Occupation.................
 
Age...................
 
Country..................
 
 
 
 
Be further advised to maintain the strictest level of confidentiality until the
 
end of proceedings to circumvent problems associated with fraudulent
 
claims.This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and
 
unwarranted abuse of this program, be warned.
 
 
Congratulations!! once again.
 
 
 
Yours in service,
 
Mr. Clive Noble
 
Public Relations Officer
 
Free Lotto Sweepstakes
 

Anti-fraud resources: