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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• 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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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 mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +31619320610 (Netherlands, prepaid mobile phone)
• 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.
  • microsoftincnl@excite.com
  • microincnl@netscape.net

Fraud email example:

From: "lnternational Promotions NL" <uptimespromo4@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2005 08:53:07 +0000
Subject: Thank you and congratulations!!!



FROM THE DESK OF THE DIRECTOR INTERNATIONAL PRIZE AWARD DEPT
MICROSOFT LOTTO NL, Netherlands.
Vendelstraat 207 1012 XB Amsterdam
Attn Lucky Winner,

WINNING NOTIFICATION FOR CATEGORY "A" WINNER ONLY

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the last final annual draw
29-09-2005, of our International Lottery Programs.
The online cyber lotto draws was conducted from an exclusive list of
25,000,000 e-mail addresses of individual and corporate bodies picked by an
advanced automated random computer search from the internet. No tickets were
sold.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!

After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail address emerged as a
winner in the category "A" with the following numbers attached Ref Number:
UPL/2031/8161/04; Batch Number: R3/A312-59 and Ticket Number: 025/ 078742,
with serial number 05908 drew the lucky numbers 25-35-09-74-82. You are
therefore to receive a cash prize of $1,500,000.00. (One Million Five
Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) from the total payout, This is from
the total prize money of 18,900,000.00 US Dollars (Eighteen Million, Nine
Hundred Thousand US Dollars) shared among the international winners in our
1st - 4th categories. CONGRATULATIONS!!!. Your prize award has been insured
with your e-mail address and will be transferred to you upon meeting our
requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and
satisfactory report.

To file in for the processing of your prize winnings, you are advised to
contact our Certified and Accredited claims agent for category "A" winners
with the information below:

**********************************************
Mr. Martin Goodman
Email:microsoftincnl@excite.com
:microincnl@netscape.net

Tel. No: +31-619-320-610
Fax. No: +31-84-719-0398

**********************************************

You are advice to provide him with the following information:

Names:
Telephone/Fax number:
Nationality:
Age:

NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 14 days, thereafter
unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake. Remember to quote your
reference information in all correspondence.
You are to keep all lotto information confidential, especially your
reference and ticket numbers. (This is important as a case of double claims
will not be entertained).Members of the affiliate agencies are automatically
not allowed to participate in this program.

Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform our agent as
soon as possible.
Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for being
part of our promotional program.

Yours Faithfully,
Jonathan Jones.
Lottery Coordinator.

Thank you and congratulations!!!

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam