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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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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.

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:

• 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.
  • goddard2william@yahoo.com

Fraud email example:

From: uklottery alert <uklottery@alertuklottery.orangehome.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 05:33:17 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE WON


BEVERLY HILLS SWEEPSTAKES ORGAINIZATION
PROMOTIONS PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT.
REF NO:BHS/96805
BATCH NO:409978GP


This is to inform you of the release of the E-MAIL LOTTERY BALLOT
INTERNATIONAL/ WORLD GAMING BOARD held on the 6th April,2006. Due the mix up
of numbers, the results were released on the TUESDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 06. Your e-mail
address attached to ticket number:008795727498 with serial number
BHS/908064830206 drew with lucky numbers 14-21-39-40-47-(20) .Subsequently
won you the lottery in the 1st category i.e. Beverly Hills Sweeptakes
Lottery Jackpot. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum payout
of £250,000.00 (Two hundred and fifty thousand POUND STERLING).

Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep your
winning information confidential until your claim has been processed and
your money remitted to you. This is part of our security protocol to
avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some
participants.

All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn
from only Microsoft users from over 40,000.00 companies and 6,000,000
individual email addresses and names from all over the world.

To collect your prize winner, please contact your claims officer below
that has been assigned for the processing of your claims with the email
address below:Our European agent will immediately commence the process
to facilitate the release of our funds as soon as you contact him.

Processing Officer
:Mr Williams Goddard
Email:goddard2william@yahoo.com
Kindly provide him with Claims Requirements Below:

Name ------------------------------------------------
Address-----------------------------------------------------
Nationality-------------------------------------------------
Age--------------------------------------------------------
Occupation--------------------------------------------------
Phone/Fax-------------------------------------------------
PresentCountry--------------------------------------------
MaritalStatus---------------------------------------------
Gender----------------------------------------------------
All winning must be claimed not later than 21 days of eceiving this
notification. After this date all unclaimed, funds will be included in the
next stake.

Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications
please remember to quote your REF NUMBER and BATCH NUMBER in all
correspondence to our claims Officer.

Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform our Claims
Officer as soon as possible.

Anybody under the age of 18 is automatically disqualified.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Anthony Hopkins
Online coordinator for BEVERLY HILLS LOTTERY

You may wish to establish contact via e-mail with the particulars
presented below citing the batch and reference numbers to this letter
between the hours of 8.00am - 11.30pm on Monday through Saturday.

Our winners are assured of the utmost standards of Confidentiality, and
press anonymity until the end of proceedings, and beyond where they so
desire. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program.

DONT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL BOX

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam