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.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
"claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
"liberia" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
They don't notify winners by email.
You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
+447024074561 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
ferde_claimsdepartment_01@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.FEDINAND EDWARD" <edfed_07@hotmail.com> Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 11:11:55 +0000 Subject: FINAL NOTIFICATION!!!
P O Box 4279 Liverpool, L70 1NL UNITED KINGDOM (Customer Services) Ref: UKON/5464K2/71 Batch: 012/05/DR432 ************************************ Ticket Number: 1356683522 352 Serial Number: 3422/05 Lucky Numbers: 17 20 27 35 36 42 ************************************
We happily announce to you the draw (#05/3) of the UK NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY,Sweepstakes International program held on 21th of AUGUST 2006 Your e-mail address.******** (winners email)********
which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.ematch 5 plus bonus.You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of 235,000(Two hundred and Thirty five thousand great britain pounds) in cash credited to file KTU/467557844/05.
This is from a total cash prize of 1,000,000,00 shared amongst the first Three (3 )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 250,000(Two hundred and fifty thousand great britain pounds) would be released to you by any of our affiliated couriers company .
Our 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 claim 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 claims agent: ******************************************************************** MR.Edward Ferdinard EMAIL:ferde_claimsdepartment_01@yahoo.co.uk
Phone Number:+ 447024072260 0r +447024074561 ******************************************************** Goodluck from me and members of staff of the UK NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY. Yours faithfully,
Richard k. Lloyd
UK NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY. Sweepstakes International Program.
Congratulations once again from all the staff here. In order to verify your winnings, we need your particulars for record purposes, Attached here is a copy of our verifications form, please fill accordingly so as to proceed with your winnings. Once again congratulations from all the staff.
A WINNER MOST HAVE TO CLICK INSIDE THE PIN VALIDATION BLOW 3 TIMES BEFORE SENDING THE INFORMTION, EXAMPLE FIRST NAME AND WINNING EMAIL
First Name:
Last Name:
Winning Email
Phone Number:
ext U.S. and Canada only.
Address:
Zip / Postal code:
City:
State:
Country:
AMOUNT WON:
ANNUAL INCOME:
OCCUPATION:
TICKET NUMBER:
SERIAL NUMBER:
B. DRAW NUMBER:
MARITAL STATUS:
SEX:
AGE:
Lotto winning number:
Courier Company
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)
QUICK PICK
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Note that all prize funds must be claimed not later than 6th OF SEPTEMBER 2006 . After this date all funds will be returned to our treasury as unclaimed
Remember that this program is organised to enhance unity and also encourage all micro-soft users all over the world Congratulations once again from all members of our staff, and thank you for being part of our promotions program. Mr:George Harris
CO-ORDINATOR EUROPEAN PRIZE AWARD.
WARNING!!! ANY MAIL RECIEVED OF THIS SUCH WITH ANY OTHER TRADE MARK OR ADDRESS SHOULD BE FOWARDED TO THIS BOX IMMEDIATELY, THIS WILL HELP US TO FIGHT SCAM AND LOTTERY IMPOSTERS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ANTICIPATED CO-OPERATION.
;)
