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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: =?utf-8?Q?NMA=C2=A9_DESK?= <vdesk@kimo.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:13:33 -0430 (VET)
Subject: Treat As Urgent!!! 25. 04. 2011

Attn Beneficiary;

The prestigious Nokia, Microsoft and AOL has set out and successfully organized a Sweepstakes marking the first quarter of the year 2011 draws, we rolled out GBP 10,000,000.00 (Ten Million Great British Pounds) in our draws for 10 lucky winners. Participants were randomly selected and drawn from a wide range of web hosts which we enjoy their patronage.

Your email address as indicated was drawn and attached to ticket number 0087955827499 with Ref numbers NMA008064830211 and drew the lucky numbers 14-21-30-39-40-47 (31) which subsequently won you GBP 1,000,000.00 (One Million Great British Pounds) as one of the 10 jackpot winners in this draw. You have therefore won the entire winning sum of ONE MILLION GREAT BRITISH POUNDS! The draws registered as Draw number one was conducted in Tottenham Court Road, London United Kingdom on Thursday, 22nd of April 2011. These Draws are commemorative and as such special.

You are required to file for claims, Make contact on email: (vdesk@kimo.com)


Sincerely,
Nokia, Microsoft and AOL Promotions Award Team

Anti-fraud resources: