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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) 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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "top of the day to you" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash)
• 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!

Fraud email example:

From: steve brooks <fiduciary_lotteryupdate@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:18:24 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: REPLY!!


ATTN:Mr Parnikapal,
Top of the day to you Sir and hope you are having a great time right now with your family?I got your mail on my desk top today and am happy for your quick response to my e-mail.
As i have said before in my previous mail that this may look skeptical to you or sound funny but this is real because your funds are in safe hands.you have been nominated and awarded this winning amount because all participants for the online version were selected randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from
over 100,000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online.
I want to assure you as your fiduciary agent which will make sure your winning parcel gets to you safely and swiftly,you will have no problem with your won amount as soon as you have received it because along with your winning cheque will be attached a Winning Certificate and a letter from our office of Guarantee stating how the money came about and if you want it to be televised so you can testify about it,there will be room for that if you consider it necessary.This is not a problem because the lottery board has taken such issues into consideration in the time past with past winners and The Irish Lottery Programme has been on for more than Ten Years(10) so i bet you wont have any problem with the UK tax office .I hope i have tried in clarifying your doubts about this and i will not fail to let you know that this Award is optional(it"s optional if you want to claim it or not)but i think this Amount will go a long way for our lucky winners.Keep me posted on this
so i can know the further steps to walk with.Have a nice day ahead Sir.
Congratulations once again.

Best Regards

Mr.Steve Brooks.




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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam