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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
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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.
  • +447031957846 (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.
  • cliffordarmston@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: "uk lottery" <uklotterycontactmail@msn.com>
Reply-To: cliffordarmston@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 10:44:16 +0000
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS

The National Lottery
PO Box 1010
Liverpool
L70 1NL

FROM: THE DESK OF THE MANAGING DIRECTOR

INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRICE AWARD DEPARTMENT.

REF Nº: EGS/2251256003/02

BATCH Nº:14/0017/1PD

RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION/ FINAL NOTICE

National U.K Lottery wishes to inform you the results of the E-mail address ballot lottery international program by Great Britain Your email account have been picked as a winner of  SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS ONLY.

This results is now released your email address attached in the A Category bonus ball     and bonus ball   to check your results on-line click on this link http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/results/results.do participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from Microsoft users from company and individual email addresses users.

Be advice to keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money remitted to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program,For the release of your winning.

All winning must be claimed not later than One Week of Acknowledgment. After this date all unclaimed funds will be returned to European Union Treasury as Unclaimed. Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications please remember to quote your reference number in all correspondence.

You are therefore advised to give the following information's to your claims agent listed bellow,

Mr. jephaton spearl 
Programs & Events Department.

phone number:+447031957846

E-mail: cliffordarmston@yahoo.co.uk

Congratulations from the staff and thank you for being part of email account users program.

Yours Sincerely,
Mrs Julie Van Hans.
                               

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam