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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: Power Ball Lottery <icbinfo22@gmail.com>
Reply-To: claimsoffice53@googlemail.com
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2023 09:15:43 +0100
Subject: Re Attention Winner


--
*Power Ball Lottery*
Website: https://www.powerball.com

Attention,
We noticed that some prizes remain unclaimed and your email ID appears to
be among the lucky winners who have not filed for the claim of their award
prize. Your email ID won during the Mega Millions International Lottery,
Megamillions, Monthly Play, Thunder ball, Hot picks which is an internet
giveaway program whereby email addresses were extracted from the internet,
and the winners selected from a ballot draw. Contact claims agent via
email: claimsoffice53@googlemail.com , with your Full Name and your
Winning ID Ref No: POW/P32/WIN22Q.

Note, that tickets are not sold anywhere for this program; hence, your
e-mail address subsequently won you in the 3rd category, i.e. match five
plus bonus. You have been approved for over two months to claim a total sum
of Nine hundred and fifty thousand euros (€950,000.00 euro) Winning ID Ref
No: POW/P32/WIN22Q

For inquiry and more info about the claims visit our Power Ball Lottery
website: https://www.powerball.com

Sincerely yours,
Elizabeth Lyons
Mega Millions International Lottery
International Claims Agent

Anti-fraud resources: