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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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.
  • +447031964928 (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.
  • cleanlotto_uk00@yahoo.ie

Fraud email example:

From: "clean lotto" <cleanlotto57@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 06:42:06 -0400
Subject:

 

FROM: THE DESK OF THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
CLEAN LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD
DEPARTMENT,
LONDON, ENGLAND.
REFERENCE NUMBER: BTL53787W1979
BATCH NUMBER: 54/1017/IDL
 
Dear Winner,
RESULTS FOR PROMOTIONAL DRAW CLEAN LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT wishes to inform you of the results of its Promotional draws held on the 18th October 2005.
We officially inform you that you have emerged winner number 4" for our cash prize, which is part of our promotional draws. Participants were selected through a central computer ballot system drawn from 4,000,000names/email addresses of individuals and companies from around the globe as part of our International Promotions and expansion Program.
Your Lottery Claim is attached to ticket number 43387109625, with serial number 0001960, and drew the lucky numbers 02-10-30-36-37-43-29 to emerge one of the Cash 5 winners. You have consequently been awarded lump sum pay out of 1,200,000.00Pound (One million Two Hundred Thousand British Pounds) in cash, which is the winning payout for cash 4 winners. This is from the total prize money of Pound 14.400,000.00 shared between 12 international winners in the category. CONGRATULATIONS!
 
In your best interest and also to avoid mix up of numbers and names of any kind, we request that you keep the entire details of your award strictly from any third party observation until the process of transferring your prize is completed, and your funds remitted to your account. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by participants/non participants of this program.
Please contact your claims agent immediately for due processing and payment to you.
 
UK National Lottery Payment Office London United Kingdom
NAME:Rostam Sardar Ahmad
EMAIL:cleanlotto_uk00@yahoo.ie

Tel: +44 703-196-4928

 

Note that all winning must be claimed not later than 26th of October 2005,you are advised to contact your agents on receipt of this email. Failure to do so may warrant disqualification.

NOTE: For easy reference and identification, find your reference number; remember to quote this number in all correspondence with your claims agent.
REFERENCE NUMBER: BTL53787W1979 Thank you for being part of our promotions program.

 

Yours sincerely,
Lisa Turner
Lotto Co-ordinator

NB: Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to disqualification. Please do not reply to this email. Contact your claims agent. (TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY).

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam