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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: "U.K Lottery" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <adslotto1@netscape.net>
Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2011 06:51:26 +0100
Subject: Congratulations!!!

AWARD WINNING NOTICE
Ref No.67324/371
Batch No.312/00643374
Ticket/Serial No.NL6775489
Amount Won: $2,500,000.00 USD

Attn: Internet User,

This is to formally inform and congratulate you on the result of the online cyber lotto which was conducted from an exclusive list of1, 000.000 email addresses of individual and corporate bodies selected by an advanced automated random computer ballot system from the internet. Your e-mail address emerged as a winner in the category "A" with the following information enclosed. You are therefore to receive a cash prize of $2,500,000.00. (Two Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars).
To file in for the processing of your prize winnings, you are advised to contact our Certified and Accredited claims agent for category "A" winners with the information below:

Claims Agent.
Mr. Rick Gibson
Phone: 00 44 079 443 8178
EMAIL: adslotto1@netscape.net

You are advice to provide him with the following information and a copy of your international passport or driver's license via email attachment or by fax for vetting process which is a standard practice just to ensure that we are dealing with the right individual.

First name:
Last Name:
Telephone/Fax number:
Nationality:
Age:
Occupation

NOTE: Ensure to quote your Reference Numbers in all your communication with your claims agent. All winnings must be claimed not later than fourteen working days, thereafter unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake. Congratulations!
Thank you for being a user of the World Wide Web.

Yours Faithfully,

Sarah Dorcas
Lottery Coordinator.

Anti-fraud resources: