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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: "Google Award Team" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jameshoff@live.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:19:37 -0800
Subject: Spam: Google Award Notification

 
Google Corporation,
Stamford new Road, Altrincham Cheshire, WA14 1EP,
London, United Kingdom.
Ref NO: JB/893-0932QP/D,
Batch: AH838QPW
Notification Date 2011/01/07
GOOGLE ANNIVERSARY WINNING NOTIFICATION.
We wish to congratulate you once again on this note, for being part of our winners selected this year. This promotion was set-up to encourage the active users of the Google search engine and the Google ancillary services.
Hence we do believe with your winning prize, you will continue to be active and patronage to the Google search engine. Google is now the biggest search engine worldwide and in an effort to make sure that it remains the most widely used search engine, we ran an online e-mail beta test which your email address won Eight Hundred And Fifty thousand Great British Pounds Sterling (?850, 000, 00).
We wish to formally announce to you that you have successfully passed the requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and satisfactory report Test conducted for all online winners.
A winning cheque will be issued in your name by Google Promotion Award Team, You have therefore won the entire sum of Eight Hundred And Fifty thousand Great British Pounds Sterling (?850, 000, 00) and also a certificate of prize claims will be sent along side your winning cheque.
CONTACT CLAIMS OFFICE:
Google Promotion Board
Dr. James Hoff.
Email: jameshoff2009@aol.com
Tel: +44702 403 5789
Fax:+44-7005-931-185
Do e-mail the Claims office at once with the Verification and Funds release form below for validation of your prize and to avoid unnecessary delay.
VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM
(1) Your Contact Address/Private Email Address.
(2) Your Tel/Fax Numbers.
(3) Your Nationality/Country.
(4) Your Full Name.
(5) Occupation/Company.
(6) Age/Gender.
(7) Ever Won An Online Lottery?
(8) How Do You Feel As A Winner?
The Google Promotion Award Team has discovered a huge number of double claims due to winners informing close friends relatives and third parties about their winning and also sharing their pin numbers. As a result of this, these friends try to claim the lottery on behalf of the real winners. The Google Promotion Award Team has reached a decision from headquarters that any double claim discovered by the Lottery Board will result to the cancelling of that particular winning, making a loss for both the double claimer and the real winner, as it is taken that the real winner was the informer to the double claimer about the lottery. So you are hereby strongly advised once more to keep your winnings strictly confidential until you claim your prize.
Congratulations from the Staffs & Members of the Google interactive Lotteries Board Commission.
Sincerely,
Dr. James Hoff.
Google Award Team.

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