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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: "Google" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <richardwahl070@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2018 23:10:02 -0800
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Winning No: GUK/877/798/2018
Ticket No: GUK/699/33/2018
Notification: DECEMBER 2018
GOOGLE END OF YEAR AWARD
We wish to congratulate you on this note, Your email was randomly selected after an electronic computer spinball draw, to receive a Winning prize of £1,000,000.00 (One Million Pounds Pound sterling.) as an actice google user.
Hence we do believe with your winning prize, you will continue to be an active patronage to the Google search engine and services. Google is now the biggest search engine worldwide and in an effort to make sure that it remains the most widely used search engine, we ran an online e-mail beta draw which your email address won One Million Great British Pounds Sterling (1,000,000.00). We wish to formally announce to you that you have successfully passed the requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and satisfactory report Test conducted for all online winners.
A winning check will be issued in your name by Google Promotion Award; for the sum of One Million Great British Pounds Sterling (1,000,000.00) and also a certificate of prize claims will be sent alongside your winning check cashable at any bank.
You are advised to contact the assigned Google Program Administrator/Coordinator with the following details to avoid unnecessary delay and complications:
KINDLY FILL THE   VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM
(1)        Your Contact Address/Private Email Address
(2)        Your Tel/Fax Numbers
(3)        Your Nationality/Country
(4)        Your Full Name
(5)        Occupation/Company
(6)        Age/Gender
(7)        Ever Won An Online Lottery?
(8)        Comments About Google
Google Senior Fellow (Program Administrator/Coordinator)
Contact Person Email: richardwahl070@gmail.com
Google values your right to privacy! Your information is 100% secured and will be used exclusively for the purpose of this award only.
Congratulations from the Staffs & Members of the Google interactive Lotteries Board Commission.
Yours faithfully,
Lawrence "Larry" Page
Co-founder and CEO of Google Inc™

Anti-fraud resources: