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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: "Microsoft Award Board Committee 2011" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <nattaponsteve@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2011 21:26:13 +0700
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!

CONGRATULATIONS DEAR WINNER,
This is to inform you that you have won prize money of (US$1,000,000.) for the 2011 International E-mail Draw which was organized by Microsoft Incorporated Development Company.
 
Microsoft Incorporated Development Company collected all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo, Aol, Walla, rediffmail, Gmail, Russian Mail and Hotmail and few from other e-mail providers. Six people are selected yearly to benefit from this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners.
 
Microsoft Incorporated wishes to congratulate you for your email address being successful in this 2011 development fund. Your email address emerged as one of the six final recipients of a cash grant/donation of US$1,000,000 to salvage your finances and to develop your community. This cash grant is a gift and you will never be required to pay it back.
This financial bailout plan is funded by G8, United Nations Agencies, Economic Development Organizations and Regional Unions which include the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), European Union (EU), African Union (AU), Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), North American Union (NAU) etc in an effort to reduce the impact of food and financial crisis around the world. The leaders of these organizations and Unions met in the G8 2011 Development Summit at New York, United States of America and made donations for this program. Microsoft was engaged to carry out the task of conducting the email balloting and to subsequently pay winners. 
 
This is the first time this program is taking place. Note that all participants’ email addresses were selected randomly from all countries of the world through a random sampling and your email address is attached to file reference number (YM-21-1-1) that emerged as one of the lucky numbers that won the sum of One Million U.S. Dollars (US$1,000,000).
 
Our methods of payment are through the issuance of a bank draft or money transfer as may be preferred by you; this can be cashed in any of the international banks in your country. Your payment falls within our Thailand representative office and it is from this office you will make your claim.
PLEASE CONTACT:
DR STEVE NATTAPON:
OUR Claim Manager ON
nattaponsteve@yahoo.co.jp 
Please provide him with the following details to enable him verify and issue you the bank
draft or transfer your fund.
Full Names:
Residential Official Address: (Not P. O. Box) 
City:
State:
Postal Code: 
Country:
Winning Email Address:
Telephone Number:
Occupation:
Age:
Sex:
Winning Code:
The above information is to be emailed to our claim manager on the above given email, who is responsible to pay you. As a security measure, you are asked to keep your winning information confidential until you have made your claim. This is mainly to avoid putting up a double claim with your winning information which will result to the cancellation of your cash grant. Microsoft incorporated, once again says congratulations!
Your sincerely,
Barrister (Mrs) Vera Clark.
(President:  Microsoft Award Board Committee 2011)
 
 

Anti-fraud resources: