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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:
  • "fiduciary 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 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.
  • uk_notificationcenter@hotmail.com

Fraud email example:

From: "UK NATIONAL LOTTERY TOM MARK" <nationallottery_winnerscenter@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:24:31 +0000
Subject: CONGRATULATION: URGENT REPLY WINNING NATIFICATION





The National Lottery

P O Box 1010

Liverpool, L70 1NL

UNITEDKINGDOM


Date12-11-2005.

(Customer Services)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369


WINNING NOTIFICATION.

We happily announce to you the draw (#953)
of the UK NATIONAL
LOTTERY,online Sweepstakes International program held on the 21st
September,2005
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:56475600545 188 with
Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers: 12-18-22-24-32-33(bonus no.),
which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.ematch 5 plus
bonus.

You are therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £1.5,000,000.00 (One
million,five hundred thousand pounds sterling) in cash credited to file
KTU/9023118308/03.
This is from a total cash prize of £10,000,000.00 shared amongst the first
four (8) lucky winners in this category i.e Match 5 plus bonus.

All participants for the online version were selected randomly from
World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over
200,000 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 £1.5,000,000.00 (One
million,five hundred thousand pounds sterling) 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 till 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 fiduciary agent:

Mr. Daniel White.
Email: uk_notificationcenter@hotmail.com

Goodluck from me and members of staff of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.
Yours faithfully.

MR TOM L MARK.
Online coordinator for UK NATIONAL
LOTTERY,
Sweepstakes International Program.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam