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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:
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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 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.
  • +447031903301 (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.
  • chrisabba@sify.com

Fraud email example:

From: "tony smith" <tony002smith@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 09:50:38 +0000
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION

The U.K. National Lottery
P.O.Box 1010
Liverpool
L70 1NL.

Ref: LSUK/2031/8161/05
Batch: R3/A312-59

WINNING NOTIFICATION
We happily announce to you the draw (Draw #1018) of the UK NATIONAL
LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International Program held on SATURDAY 24TH
SEPTEMBER 2005.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with
Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers:
Which subsequently won you one of the lucky dip prizes. You have
therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £69,215 (Sixty Nine
Thousand Two
Hundred and Fifteen Great British Pounds) in cash credited to file
KTU/9023118308/03. This is from a total cash prize of £1,522,730 (One
Million Five hundred and Twenty Two Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty
Great British Pounds), shared amongst the Twenty Two (22) lucky winners
in this
category Draw 1018 Sat 24 Sep 05 Your Prize Money £69,215

NUMBER OF MATCHES No OF WINNERS £s PER WINNER TOTAL

Match 6 4 £2,006,940 £8,027,760

Match 5 plus bonus 22 £69,215 £1,522,730

Match 5 968 £983 £951,544

Match 4 46809 £44 £2,059,596

Match 3 776009 £10 £7,760,090


Totals 823812 £20,321,720

All participants for the online version were selected randomly from the
World Wide Web through a computer draw system and extracted from over
100,000 unions, associations,and corporate bodies that are listed online.

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 ( £69,215 ) 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 via email:
Mr. Chris Abba
Claims Department
The UKNL Foundation
Email: chrisabba@sify.com
Tel: + (+44 703 190 3301)

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 !!!
Once again congratulations from the entire staff of the U.K NATIONAL
LOTTERY.
Warm regards,
Richard K. Lloyd.
Online Coordinator for the U.K. National Lottery.

© Copyright 1994-2005 The U.K. National Lottery Inc.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam