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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: "Zainal Amin" <gregthompson@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: gregthompson101@hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:22:07 +0700
Subject: Confirm Reciept...Congratulation Email User

Your Email Id have won you 1,000,00,00USD in the Microsoft
Global Lottery held on the 28th August 2008.
For claims contact our fiduciary agent Rev Greg Thompson with
your contact information:
FULL NAME:______________
CONTACT ADDRESS:______________
TELEPHONE:______________
AGE:____________
OCCUPATION:______________
MODE OF PAYMENT..CHECK OR BANK WIRE TRANSFER:______________

Regard
Miss Susan Smith
Copyright © microsoft 2008.


Anti-fraud resources: