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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: "UKNL Desk" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <uknldesk@live.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2011 03:59:23 +0100
Subject: UKNL 2011 Announcement

UK NATIONAL LOTTERY DESK
TICKET NUMBER: 070-030-859-122
REFERENCE No: uk/200-2011
CASH PRIZE: 1,200,000.00 GBP

Congratulations,

Good day Winner No: UKNL/ZZ5,
We use this medium to notify you of the lottery prize of 1.2 Million GBP won by your e-mail address, in the 2011 edition of the UK National Lottery draw, held today the 5th of October, 2011. If you have received this message, kindly contact Our Payment Officer with your reference number and winning email address for verification and proof of notification, via e-mail below to commence your claims process.

Mr. Graham Wilbert
Email: uknldesk@live.co.uk
Telephone: +44 704 577 3378

Signed,
Notification Department.

Anti-fraud resources: