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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 Corporation" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lpageceog@yandex.ru>
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2019 20:22:02 -0800
Subject: Merry Christmas

Belgrave House
76 Buckingham Palace Road
London SW1W 9TQ,
United Kingdom.
GOOGLE ANNIVERSARY WINNING NOTIFICATION.
We wish to congratulate you over your success in the official publication of results of the E-mail electronic online sweepstake organized by Google, in conjunction with the Foundation for the Promotion of Software Products (F.P.S.P) and confirmed by our co-sponsors Visa®/MasterCard® International. Google earns its profit mainly from advertising using their very own Gmail, Gala, Sify e-mail services, Google Maps, Google Apps, Orkut social networking, You Tube video sharing, Google search engine and the Google ancillary services which are all offered to the public for free.
This is to inform you that you are among the Ten (10) lucky winners of Category A. Hence we do believe with your winning prize, you will continue to be active to the Google search engine/ancillary 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 on-line e-mail beta test which your email address won ?950,000.00.
A winning cheque will be issued in your name by Google Promotion Award; for the sum of Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great British Pounds Sterling (?950,000.00) and also a certificate of prize claims will be sent alongside your winning cheque cashable at any bank.
You are advised to contact the assigned Google Program Administrator/Coordinator with the following details:
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/Age
Contact (Program Administrator/Coordinator) Jeffery Dean - Google Senior Fellow
Email: sf.jefferydean@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.
The Google Promotion Award Team has discovered a huge number of double claims due to winners informing close
friends relatives and third parties about their winning and also sharing their pin numbers. As a result of this, these friends try to claim the lottery on behalf of the real winners. The Google Promotion Award Team has reached a decision from its headquarters that any double claim discovered by the Lottery Board will result to the canceling of that particular winning, leading to a loss for both the double claimer and the real winner, as it is taken that the real winner was the informer to the double claimer about the lottery. So you are hereby strongly advised once more to keep your winnings strictly confidential until you claim your prize.
Congratulations from the Staffs & Members of the Google interactive Lotteries Board Commission.
Yours faithfully,
Lawrence "Larry" Page - Co-founder and CEO of Google Inc™

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