419 scam: "You were selected within European Countries" <nominalcode@aim.com> You were selected within European Countries.

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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:

This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. 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.
- +31623155299 (Netherlands, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "You were selected within European Countries" <nominalcode@aim.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:17:51 -1100
Subject: You were selected within European Countries.

Winnings!!!
Emails were selected within European Countries; and it's been done once in
every year. Your winning information's for $800,000:00 USD in category 'A'

"Email lottery winning information is followed below"

Ticket number: 1001-558962-5899.
Serial number: 6677/05
Reference number: 7743909/nl

Remember, all winning must be claim not later than 30 Days. After this date
all unclaimed cash prize will be forfeited. Please, in order to avoid
unnecessary delay and complications remember to quote personal and winning
numbers in all correspondence with us .Congratulations once again from all
members of MEGA-JACKPOT LOTTERY N.L. Thank you for being part of our
promotional program of this year's winners, Send the following..

(i) Your names..
(ii) Contact telephone and fax numbers
(iii) Contact Address /Country
(iv) Your winning information
(v) Quote amount won.

*****************************************************************
Contact Mr. Gerald Huisman
Tel: +31- 623-155-299
Fax: +31 -84 -759 -9744
Email: Megajackpot@games.com
*****************************************************************

Yours Sincerely,
Mrs. Cohen Van Ken

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam