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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: "The National Lottery"<onlinedrawresults@national-lottery.co.uk>
Reply-To: <thenatlot002@googlemail.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2009 14:28:00 +0200
Subject: Congratulations, your email address has won!

The National Lottery
Accounts Dept.
P O Box 287
Watford WD18 9TT

Your email address has luckily won our online draw and you are hereby entitled to claim the sum of GBP1, 000,000.00 (One Million Great British Pounds) credited to file Ref No: K4K009 with Serial number 1102/9, Batch number 0923/UK09, Ticket number 09, 22, 88, 20, 18, 07 (12) Bonus Ball.
Mr. Harrington (Claim agent)
E-mail: thenat001@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: 0044 203 239 0377

For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential until your claim is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to receive your prize. All prizes must be claimed not later than 8th of October 2009 LAST COLLECTION DATE. After this date all funds will be returned to our treasury as unclaimed. You are advice to quote your Ref and Batch numbers to your claim agent in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications.

Congratulations!!!
Sincerely,
Online Lotto-coordinator

Anti-fraud resources: