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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: "Herr Larry"<info@tomcrisusa.com>
Reply-To: gooogle.winnerss@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2017 12:06:05 -0800
Subject: GOOGLE TEAM


Dear winner,
We are pleased to announce that your e-mail address has won a prize.
Your email was selected among the 12 (twelve) lucky winnings of =A3 950,000=
during the GOOGLE LOTTERY PROMO UNITED KINGDOM.
=

FILL IN THIS INFORMATION FOR THE REVIEW
YOUR COMPLETE NAME:
YOUR CONTACT ADDRESS:
Your PHONE CONTACT NUMBER:
YOUR NATIONALITY:
DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH:
Thank you for using Gmail, Google Search Matchin and Google other products.
Google Team wish you happy Christmas.
Greetings,
Mr. Larry
Online Google Director
Great Britain
+44 (0) 20 7505 786, +3168751016
Wollstrasse 37, D-67547 Worms

Anti-fraud resources: