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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: "Western Union Customer Services" <online@live.co.uk>
Reply-To: WUCustomer2010@live.com
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2010 14:28:28 -0000
Subject: MAIL FOR YOU

Dear Valued Customer,

For 156 years, Western Union has been connecting people. At Western Union,
there's so much more than the money you're sending. Every sender and
receiver is important to us. To celebrate our 156th Anniversary United
Kingdom, we're rewarding you with a prize sum of USD$90,000.00.
Because you sent money from an agent location, you've been selected.
However, you are required to forward the following information for
immediate payment of your USD$90,000.00

1.) YOUR COMPLETE NAMES:
2.) YOUR TELEPHONE (INCLUDE HOME, OFFICE AND MOBILE):
3.) YOUR CONTACT ADDRESS (INCLUDE CITY, STATE, COUNTRY):
4.) YOUR DATE OF BIRTH:
5.) YOUR OCCUPATION (INCLUDE COMPANY'S NAME):

Immediately we receive the above required details for your prize claim,
you will be contacted by a Western Union Agent in the next 24 hours who
will avail you to provide the required proof of identity,terms and
condition to enable you receive your prize sum of USD$90,000.00 from us.
Save time, send money, earn rewards! Western Union is a service people trust.
Thank you for using Western Union!

Western Union Online Customer Services
EMAIL:WUCustomer2010@live.com

CONFIDENTIAL NOTICE: This email message, including any attachments, is
intended only for the use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain
information that is privileged, confidential and prohibited from
unauthorized disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended
recipient of this message, any dissemination, distribution or copying of
this message is strictly prohibited. If you received this message in
error, please notify the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of
the original message.

Copyright © 2010 The UK Western Union. All rights reserved. Terms of
Service - Guidelines

Anti-fraud resources: