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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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:
  • "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.
  • +447031905093 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • lawfisher@hotmail.com

Fraud email example:

From: "The National Lottery" <thenational.lottery@hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 08 Oct 2005 00:40:44 -0800
Subject: Prize Winning Notification !

The National Lottery
P O Box 1010
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services) 

Ref:UK/9420X2/68 
Batch:074/05/ZY369

Date:8th October, 2005                                       

                                                         WINNING NOTIFICATION

We happily announce to you the draw (#966) of THE NATIONAL LOTTERY,online Sweepstakes International program held 8th October,2005.

Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:56475600545 188 with  Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers: 04 06 33 38 41 02 Bonus Ball which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e match 5 plus bonus.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £ 653 189(Six hundred and Fifty Three thousand,One hundred and Eighty Nine Great British Pounds only) in cash credited to file  KTU/9023118308/03.

All participants for the online version were selected randomly from  WorldWide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online.This promotion takes place weekly.  

Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in your play coupon.

In  view of this, your £ 653 189(Six hundred and Fifty Three thousand,One hundred and Eighty Nine Great British Pounds only) would be released to you by any of our payment offices in Europe.

Our European agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him.For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential while your claim is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize.

This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned.

To file for your claim, please contact our claims agent:

Mr.Lawrence Fisher
Email:lawfisher@hotmail.com
Tel:+44 703 190 5093

With your Reference ,Batch and Draw Numbers respectively as listed in this Winning Notification email to you. 

Goodluck from me and members of staff of THE NATIONAL LOTTERY.

Goodluck,

Thomas Graham
Online coordinator for THE NATIONAL LOTTERY,
Sweepstakes International Program.
Open 7 days 8am-8pm

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam