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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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "Pool Lottery South Africa" <poollotterysouthafrica@msn.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 06:11:24 +0000
Subject: Congratulation You Have Won

BATCH: 22/523009/LHINT
REF NO: ZA/144132/1211.

ATTENTION

RE/ AWARD NOTIFICATION

We wish to inform you of the lottery draws held on the 15th of
September,2005 to declare the winners of the POOL LOTTERY SOUTH
AFRICA/INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS.

Yourself, attached to Ticket number 356-00098-3211-222, with Serial number
818-09 drew the lucky numbers 67-99-777963, and consequently won the
lottery. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of RANDS
8,000,000.00 in cash credited to file REF NO: ZA/144132/1211 This is from
total prize money of ZAR 136,000,000.00 shared among the
seventeen international winners in this category.

All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from
17,000 names from Australia, New Zealand, North America, South America,
Europe and Middle East and Asia as part of our International Promotions
Program, which is conducted monthly.


CONGRATULATIONS!
Your fund is now available for claim. However due to the mix up of some
numbers and names, we ask that you keep this award strictly from public
notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted to your
account. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or
unscrupulous acts by participants of this promotion. We hope with a part of
your prize, you will participate in our End of year Jackpot of ZAR100,
000,000 Million International Lottery.

TO BEGIN YOUR CLAIM, PLEASE CONTACT OUR CLAIMS OFFICE WITH YOUR FULL DETAILS
i.e YOUR FULL NAMES, YOUR TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBERS, YOUR CONTACT ADDRESS,
BATCH, REFERENCE AND TICKET NUMBERS THROUGH THE DETAILS BELOW;

MR STEPHEN LAWRENCE
CLAIMS MANAGER
FOREIGN CLAIMS DEPARTMENT,
MIDLAND FINANCE SOUTH AFRICA PTY
1212 MIDLAND HOUSE
JAN SMUTS AVENUE
JOHANESSBURG
SOUTH AFRICA.

EMAIL: claimsdepartment@midlandsouthafrica.org
TELEPHONE: +27-73-806-2391

For due processing and remittance of your prize money to you.Remember, all
prize money must be claimed not later than One Weeks after notice. After
this date, all funds will be returned as unclaimed.

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please
remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in every one of your
correspondences with your claims agent. Furthermore, should there be any
change of your address, do inform your claims agent as soon as possible.

Congratulations again from all our staff.

Sincerely,
Rachel Lee.



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