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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "transfer of your funds" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
• 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.
  • heritageloto@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Heritage Loto Board" <loto@mail.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: heritageloto@aim.com
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2006 14:13:38 +0100
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS !!!

UK HERITAGE TRUST LOTTERY PROMOTIONS
AWARD NOTIFICATION DEPARTMENT
20 KING EDWARD LANE EC4A
LONDON U.K

Dear Winner,

YOU WON: £850,000.00!

With utmost joy, we are pleased to inform you of the result of our UK Heriatge Lottery International promotions held on the 30th of September 2006, which draw cash Prize of £850,000.00.
Your e-mail address attached to Code number 370011672387-290-02 with claim Number 12093782/42 drew these lucky numbers 894-4563-001-764-64-2911, which consequently won in the 1st category.
You have been approved to receive a cash prize of £850,000.00 (Eight Hundred & Fifty Thousand Pounds). Be advised that due to incessant mix up in cash prize transfer to previous winners,
we advise that you Keep your winning information confidential until your claims is been processed and your funds (£850,000.00 Pounds) Transferred to you.

This security measure is important; its protocol meant to avoid double claims, transfer and unwarranted abuse of this program by other participants. METHOD OF SELECTING WINNERS:
Participants were selected anonymously through a private ballot system (computer ballot) from over 35,000 Companies and 70,000 individual e-mail addresses all over the world.
At the final draw your e-mail address Emerged as the winner of our last jackpot.

This is promotional program takes place bi-annually, and it is promoted and sponsored by Orient software Corporation UK (Orient Networks).
It is met to reward individuals and corporations worldwide who have devoted their time and resources surfing the world wide web (www) with their email addresses. Remember,
all winning must be claimed not later than 10 working days from the day of receipt of this winning notification.
After the expiration of that time frame, if your funds are unclaimed, it will be returned back to the treasury of UK Heriatge Trust board and included in our next draws.
We hope you will use part of your cash prize to participate in our next £6million draws in December 2006.

Note: in order to avoid unnecessary delays/complications with the transfer of your funds to you,
please Always remember to quote your Code number in all correspondence with our Lottery Co-ordinator (Mr Mark Johnson c/o UK HERITAGE TRUST LOTTERY PROMOTIONS ).
Furthermore, should there be any change of your present address, please notify us immediately so to make the appropriate adjustment.

Congratulations from the management and staffs of UK Heritage Lottery Board. Please, to enable us to start processing your claims, kindly provide us with the
followings details through this e-mail address:heritageloto@aim.com, Your full names, Contact Address (Postal Address), Full contact Telephone numbers,
and code number:....(quote your code number.... is the winner of the last UK Heritage Lottery draws, with a cash prize of £850,000.00 Pounds.

Kindly advise me with details of the process of the transfer of my cash prize within the next 10-working days.
We wish to congratulate once again on behalf of our client Heritage Trust Fund Lottery Board.

Yours in services,
Mark Johnson. (Lottery Coordinator)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam