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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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Fraud email example:

From: gatewaylotterysa@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 18:11:34 -0800
Subject: LOTTERY WINNING NOTIFICATION

FROM THE DESK OF THE PROMOTION MANAGER
GATEWAYLOTTERYSA, SOUTH AFRICA.

DEAR SIR/MADAM


We are pleased to inform you of our announcement today, 3rd August 2005 of winners in the GATEWAY LOTTERYSA Promotional draw held on the 30th July 2005. Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Middle East, and New Zealand as part of our electronic business Promotions Program.

Your qualified for the draw as a result of you visiting various e-business website we are running on the Internet. A ticket number 100-309-7482, with serial number 111 410-887 was attached to your entry which drew the lucky numbers 1 10 29 37 45 49 and consequently won in the second category. You are therefore awarded a cash prize of US$900,000.00, which is the winning payout for Second category winners.

This is from the total prize money of US$13,650,000.00 shared among several international/local winners in the Second category.

CONGRATULATIONS! You are to file in your claim to the director of claims department with the information below to arrange for your payout,

Mr. Mike More Morgan
Tel: 27-83-590-2015
Email:mikemoremorgan@yahoo.com

Ensure that you contact the claim department not later than 21 days from the day you receive this notification message.
Sincerely,

MR AUTHUR MOSES.
THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
GATEWAYLOTTERY SOUTH AFRICA.
--

Anti-fraud resources: