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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: "smith bentley" <uknational_lottery88@msn.com>
Reply-To: harry_uknationallottery@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Sun, 07 May 2006 10:20:51 +0000
Subject: FINAL NOTICE

The National Lottery
P O Box 1010
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

WINNING NOTIFICATION
We happily announce to you the draw (#1066) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,
online Sweepstakes International program held on Sat 29th of April. 2006.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:56475600545 188 with
Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers:04-09-13-29-31-36(bonus
no.16),which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e match
5 plus bonus.You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of
£151,819
(one hundred and fifty one thousand,eight hundred and nineteen pound
sterling)
in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/03.This is from a total cash
prize of £1,670,009 shared amongst the (11) lucky winners in this category
i.e Match 5 plus bonus.

All participants for the online version were selected randomly from
World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over
100,000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online.
This promotion takes place weekly.Please note that your lucky winning number
falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe as
indicated in your play coupon.In view of this, your £151,819 (one hundred
and fifty one thousand,eight hundred and nineteen pound sterling) would be
released to you by any of our payment offices in Europe.

Our European agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate
the release of your funds as soon as you contact him.For security reasons,
you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your
claims is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you
deem fit to claim your prize.This is part of our precautionary measure to
avoid
double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned.

To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary
Agent: Mr.Alex Smith
Email: alex_uknationallotery@yahoo.co.uk

You can go to our online result site to confirm the value of your winnings
and also get a prize breakdown:-
www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/results/results.do
Goodluck from me and members of staff of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.

Yours faithfully,
Richard K. Lloyd.
Online coordinator
UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.



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