419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (YYYY-MM)

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- hamilton.facebookwinsclaims987@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Facebook Inc." <info@lee.com>
Reply-To: hamilton.facebookwinsclaims987@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2017 08:50:25 +0000
Subject: ***SPAM*** Claim Your Cash Prize With Your Winning Code
FBLOTTO:38293/17.

Hello Brad@bradblog.com,

Have you been informed about your Facebook winnings ?

I am so happy for you because your Facebook account has been chosen among the listed Facebook accounts WORLWIDE that won the sum of $500,000 USD, this amount is given to large Facebook active users and appreciate them for using our platform / service ;therefore, it is not limited to a specific country or region.

Your email was selected by Automatic Random Machine Ballot System, whereby your Facebook user name showed up as the 7th amongst the 13 lucky winners so your winning prize is 100% real and legitimate.

In order to claim your winnings, you have to provide these information to re-confirm your details in our Database so that the Facebook Board will be able to issue your Winning Certificate and all necessary documents attached to your cash prize for you:

Full Name:

Full Home address:

Country:

Age:

Occupation:

Mobile Number:

Email Address:

NOTE: For your jurisdiction, here are some pictures of winners like you that have received their cash prizes.

Congratulations.

Note: For security reasons and due to the mix-up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep this notification strictly from public notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by non-participants in the use of this platform. "BE WARNED"

Mr. Mark Hamilton ,
Lottery Coordinator,
Head-CEEMEA Marketing Communications ,
Private email: hamilton.facebookwinsclaims987@gmail.com
Facebook © 2017

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam