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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "BMW Automobile" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bmwanniversary@outlook.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 04:09:51 +0100
Subject: YOUR AWARD!!!

YOUR EMAIL ID HAS WON YOU THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND POUNDS(350,000GBP) FROM THE ONGOING BMW ANNIVERSARY PROMOTION IN UNITED KINGDOM. TO RECEIVE YOUR AWARD, YOU HAVE TO FILL IN YOUR DETAILS AS REQUESTED BELOW:
YOUR COMPLETE NAME:
YOUR HOME ADDRESS:
PHONE NUMBER:
MOBILE NUMBER:
AGE:
OCCUPATION:
 
 
AS SOON AS WE RECEIVE THE ABOVE DETAILS, WE SHALL PROCESS THE RELEASE OF YOUR AWARD IMMEDIATELY TO YOUR COUNTRY.
CONGRATULATION ON BEHALF OF BMW MOTORS.
REGARDS,
BMW PROMOTION DEPARTMENT
 
 
 
 

Anti-fraud resources: