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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: "admin@national-lottery.co.uk" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <kdhdl@e-mail.ua>
Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:15:09 +0100
Subject: Winner

We are pleased to notify you the Draw 1690 of the NATIONAL LOTTERY, Online Sweepstakes International Lottery Program held on Saturday, 3rd March, 2012. Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from a  pool of over 25,000 names of distinguished professionals drawn from Europe, America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Middle-East, parts of Africa, and North & South America as part of our international promotions program conducted annually to encourage prospective overseas entries. We hope with part of your prize awards, you will take part in our  subsequent lottery jackpots. The result of our computer draw 1690 which took place on Saturday, 3rd March, 2012 selected email address attached to an e-ticket number56475600545 188 with Serial number (5627635368/10) drew the  lucky numbers:  07 20 23 28 31 40(bonus no. 42), which
subsequently won you the lottery in the 1st category to the sum of One Million, three hundred and seventy-three thousand, four hundred and twenty British Pounds Sterling
For full details on how to claim, click here

Anti-fraud resources: