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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: "GANADOLOTERIA"<325671ganador@terra.es>
Reply-To: <apextrustagencye@aim.com>
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2009 16:01:21 +0200
Subject: Congratulations ...........

Congratulations

Attn User!!

This is to notify you that this e-mail address was entered during the
Paypal European selection Draw and has won the sum of $950.000.00 (Nine Hundred
And Fifty thousand dollars only). For claim please contact the below company for
immediate process of your claim; Rememebr to quote
these numbers below for verification by the company. REF: PP-21180-ES and
BATCH: PP-245-44 you should include Your Name, Address, Sex, Age, Occupation,
Nationality, Phone Number

Company:NATIONAL ASEGUROS S.
Email:apextrustagencye@aim.com
Dr. Alexandra Mayor (Claim Director)
Tel; Tel:+34 634 162 345
APEX SEGUROS S.A

Sincerely,
Dr.Maria Jose Muyor
Paypal Europe Coordinator

Anti-fraud resources: