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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: MICROSOFT LOTTERY <patricialawrence07@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 08 Apr 2007 00:46:51 +0200
Subject: !!!CONGRATULATIONS!! !!TO!! !!YOU!!!!!!





FROM: THE DESK OF THE E-MAIL PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT
MICROSOFT WORD LOTTERY,UK
61-70 Southampton Row, Bloomsbury,
LONDON, United Kingdom
, WC1B 4AR
DIRECTOR:MR. KENT ANDERSON.

 

REF NO: MSW-L/200-26937
BATCH: 2005MJL-01 

ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD WINNING NOTIFICATION

!!!CONGRATULATIONS!! !!TO!! !!YOU!!!!!!

 We are pleased to inform you of the announcement today of winners of the MSW MEGA JACKPOT LOTTO WINNINGS PROGRAMS held on 13th FEBUARY 2006.

 Your company or your personal e-mail address, is attached to winning number 20-12DEC-2004-02MSW, with serial number S/N-00168 drew the lucky numbers 887-13-865-37-10-83, and consequently won in the first lottery category.

 You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of GBP5,500,000.00 POUNDS in cash which is approximately $10.4 MILLION US DOLLARS credited to file REF NO: MSW-L/200-26937. This is from total prize money of GBP 27,500,000.00 POUNDS, shared among the Twenty (5)international winners in this category.

 All participants were selected through our microsoft computer ballot system drawn form 21,000 names,3,000 names from each continent, as part of International "E-MAIL" Promotions Program, which is conducted annually for our prominent MS WORD user all over the world, and for the continues use of E-mail. We are sorry to let you know that our site is still under construction, as we are updating our site.

 Your fund has been deposited in an escrow account and insured with your REF NO: MSW-L/200-26937 and your E-mail address, Please note that, you are to contact us via email and not phone as we are promoting the use of E-mail, any communications with this office should be by mail, You have the right to call the bank, as we will provide you with the necessary details on how to claim your prize. You are to keep your ref. number and batch number from the public, until you have been processed and your money remitted to your account.

 This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and the act of scamming people of their ref number and prizes. We hope with a part of your prize, you will participate in our year high stakes US$1.3 billion International Lottery.

 To claim your winning prize, you must first contact the claims department by email for processing and remittance of your prize money to you. The claims officer contact email is:

The claims officer contact email is:

CLAIMS OFFICER :MR. FRANK BENYEN.

EM@IL  :  frank_benyen177@yahoo.co.uk


** WINNERS must claim their winning prize before the 23RD of JUNE, 2007. All funds not claimed on or before the fixed date will be penalised accordingly.

THIS SHOULD BE COMPLETED BY THE BENEFICIARY OF THE STATED FUND, FOR VERIFICATION BEFORE TRANSFER.
 
BENEFICIARY FIRST NAME-------------
BENEFICIARY LAST NAME--------------
RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS----------------
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH------------
TEL. NUMBER------------------------
FAX NUMBER-------------------------
EMAIL ADDRESS----------------------
NEXT OF KIN NAME AND ADDRESS-------
AMOUNT WON-------------------------
BATCH NUMBER-----------------------
REFERENCE Nº-----------------------
OCCUPATION-------------------------
MARITAL STATUS----------------------

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your  reference and batch numbers in all correspondences with your claims officer. Do not reply any  other mails like this on net as they are alot of scam artist out there pretending to be us. You may see mails like this do not reply. Do contact your claims officer MR. FRANK BENYEN. at once by email. You will be asked to provide some details to enable us proceed file keeping.

Congratulations!!  Oncemore.

Yours Faithfully,
MRS. PATRICIA LAWRENCE.
LOTTERY CO-ORDINATOR/ANNOUNCER.
 

NOTE: YOU ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO KEEP ALL YOUR WINNING CONFIDENTIAL TILL CLAIM IS MADE TO AVOID WRONG CLAIMING.ANY BREACH OF CONFIDENCIAL DISQULIFIES YOU FROM GETTING YOUR PRIZE.You must be 16 or over to play or claim a prize    
British Flag

NOTE: Do not reply this mail. You are to contact your claims officer immediately.

SPONSORS:-
CHIEF SPONSOR;
MICROSOFT CO-OPERATIONS UK;MICROSOFT CO OPERATIONS ASIA; MICROSOFT CO-OPERATIONS USA ;AMTRAK COURIER EXPRESS;GLOBAL COURIER EXPRESS.

© copyright 2007 by Microsoft Co-operations United Kingdom. All Rights Reserved.

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