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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: "Owen Peterson" (may be fake)
Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2013 18:56:18 -0400
Subject: Winner!!!

Dear Winner,
 
Winning Notification
 
This is to notify you that you have won (3,250,000.00) THREE MILLION, TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND POUNDS. United Nations In our online email lottery in which e-mail addresses are picked randomly by computerized balloting powered by the Internet. Your email address was amongst those chosen for this period.
Ticket no: 2752246896 177
Serial no: 652-662/08
Winning number: 08.11.21.32.35.42. {47}
Draw (040SB06-03)
Reference Number: IPL/4249859609/WP1.
To claim your prize fill the below form,
CLAIMS VERIFICATION DATA FORM
 
(HTML FORM)
YOUR FULL NAME: ...................................................
YOUR SEX:..........................................................
YOUR ADDRESS:......................................................
YOUR COUNTRY:......................................................
YOUR FAX:..........................................................
YOUR PHONE NUMBER:.................................................
YOUR OCCUPATION:...................................................
POSITION:.........................................................
YOUR COMPANY'S NAME:...............................................
YOUR AGE:..........................................................
YOUR REF NUMBER:.................................
PREFERED METHOD OF RECEIVING WINNINGS (CHEQUE BY COURIER OR BANK
TRANSFER):..........check by courier...............................................
Yours faithfully,
Owen Peterson
National Coordinator
Direct Tel : +447924451297

Anti-fraud resources: