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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: "Winning Lottery" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <barrwillipeters0100011@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2016 12:55:31 -0700
Subject: Winning Lottery/ Congratulations.

MICROSOFT CORPORATION'S LOTTERY RESULTS 2016
MICROSOFT CORPORATIONS INTERNET LOTTERY
Microsoft Corporations International Lottery Office,
33 Sumkumvit Rd Wassana, Bangkok Thailand
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Microsoft Corporations announced you as one of the 7 lucky winners of the ongoing Microsoft Corporations lottery Award of the Year Held this month.All 7 winning email addresses were randomly selected from a batch of 800,000,000 international emails each from Canada,Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our international promotions program which is conducted annually, consequently, you have been approved for a total pay out of TWO MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATE DOLLARS (USD$2.5M).This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they have operational base.
Further more your details (e-mail address) falls within our Branch office here in Bangkok Thailand, as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of  (USD$2.5M). will be released to you from this main branch office of  Microsoft Corporations Bangkok Thailand.We wish to informed you that your fund has been approved and insured in your name as well as ready for delivery.
 
These are your winning identification numbers.
 
Ticket number.....................679-568-9228
Serial number.......................37016
Lucky number...................56-34-13-00
Ref number...................MSCB4900
To begin your lottery claims, Please contact our Microsoft Corporations Lottery Co-ordinator as follows,
Name;::::::   Dr.Moon Chai
E-mail Contact;::: lottwinning571@gmail.com
Fax ::::: +66-8478-8725-566
You are to send the completed verification form below to the co-ordinator whose email address is given above so that you will be advised on what to do to get your prize money. Congratulations once more!!
 
1. Full Name:...................
2. Country Of Origin:............
3. Present Address:..............
4. Date Of Birth:.................
5. Occupations;......................
6.Telephone No:................
7. Sex:...........................
8. Ticket and Lucky No:.......
NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in all correspondences with us, Furthermore, should there be any change of address, please do inform our Co-ordinator as soon as possible. An original copy of your lucky winning ticket and your deposit certificate will be sent to you by Lottery Administrative Remittance Operation.
We wish you continued good fortunes.
Yours  Sincerely.
Mrs  Diana Yum
Head of Publications Department, Microsoft Corporations Online Promo.
Copyright! 2014-2016 The Microsoft Corporations Thailand.

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