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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:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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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:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
• 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.
  • swisslottomanager@yahoo.com
  • swisslottomanager@yahoo.com

Fraud email example:

From: "swiss lotto" <swisslotto_urgent2006@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 17:56:03 -0800
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE WON!!!

CONGRATULATIONS SWISS LOTTO
POSTFACH 4002 BASEL
REF NUMBER: CSL/74/368/05
BATCH NUMBER: CS-121-LT-11-12-05
swisslottomanager@yahoo.com
(reply to this email address)

DEAR SIR/MADAM,

We are pleased to inform you, THAT AS A RESULT OF OUR RECENT Lottery DRAWS
HELD on the 11th April. 2005. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number
63538953216-435 with serial number 172-488 drew lucky numbers 13 - 15 - 16-
26 - 28 - 41 + 19 which consequently won in the 2nd category.

you have therefore been approvedfor alump sum pay out of 4,000,000
(DOLLARS)(FOUR MILLION DOLLARS)note that All participants in this lottery
programhave been selected randomly through a computer ballot system drawn
from over 20,000 companies and 30,000,000 individual email addresses from
all search engines and web sites.

This promotional program takes place every year, and is promoted and
sponsored by eminent personalities like the Sultan of Brunei, Michael Dell
of Dell Computers and other corporate organizations. this is to encourage
the use of the Internet and computers worldwide. For security purpose and
clarity,we advise that you keep your winning information confidential until
your claims have been processed and your money remitted to you.

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claims and unwarranted
abuse of this program by some participants. We look forward to your active
participation in our next year USD 75 million slot.

You are requested to contact our clearance officer below to assist you with
your winnings and subsequent payments. all winnings must beclaimed not later
than one month After the date of this notice.Please note, in order to avoid
unnecessary delays and complications, remember to quote your reference
number and batch numbers in all correspondence.Furthermore,should there be
any change of address do inform our agent as soon as possible.

Congratulations once more and thank you for beingpart of our
promotionalprogram.

NOTE: YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLYDISQUALIFIED IF YOU
ARE BELOW 18 YEARS OF AGE.
Sincerely yours,

YOU SHOULD REPLY THIS MAIL TO THIS
OFFICIAL EMAIL ADDRESS BELOW: swisslottomanager@yahoo.com
MRS.FLORENCE BUTT.
(LOTTERY COORDINATOR)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam