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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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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:

• 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.
  • claimagentnl2@netscape.net

Fraud email example:

From: "Wendy Witkamp" <lottonl1@msn.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 12:04:16 +0000
Subject: YOU HAVE WON!!

DE LOTTO

INTERNATIONAL PRIZE AWARD DEPT.

REF Number: FAQ/231-ILGI0431/05
BATCH No: EAPA/15/096/FAQ
TICKET No: 20511465463-7644
SERIAL No: 472-9768-98
LUCKY No: 8-66-97-22-65-99

RE: WINNING FINAL NOTIFICATION

Sir, Madam

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Lottery Winners
International programs held on the 19th of October 2005. Your E-mail address
attached to Ticket number 20511465463-7644 with Serial number 472-9768-98
drew the lucky numbers 8-66-97-22-65-99, which consequently won in the 1st
category, you have therefore been approved for a lump sum payout of US$
1,000,000.00 (One Million United States Dollars). This is from a total cash
prize of USD$10,000,000.00 Million shared amongst Ten International Lucky
Winners in the Category A + (Plus).

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

This lottery is a promotional program by DE LOTTO, (Biggest lottery
Organization in the Netherlands) to advertise to the world its existence.
All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from
over 50,000 companies and 2,000,000 individual email addresses from all over
the world, as part of our international promotions program, which we intend
to conduct several times a year.

Be informed that your documents have to pass our authority to obtain a
clearance, which shall be attached to your document in readiness of the
subsequent onward transfer into your nominated bank account with 24 hours of
completion of the authentication.
Due to the possibility of unscrupulous individuals filing a double claim, we
suggest that you keep this award strictly confidential until your claim has
been processed and notarized and your certificate of award obtained. This is
in conformity with the lottery claim regulations by our Organization & High
Court of Justice.

This is part of our security protocol measures to avoid double claiming and
unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants/non participants.
All winnings must be claimed not later than 5th of November 2005. After this
date all unclaimed funds will be included in the next stake. Anybody under
the age of 18 is automatically disqualified.

To file for your claim, please contact our /your processing agent
Mr. M. de Bruijne.
Email: claimagentnl2@netscape.net

NOTE: All winnings must be notarized and a certificate of award must be
obtained from the High Court of Justice to complete the claims process, this
certificate can only be obtained through legal representation so winners
will be referred to a lawyer to assist in this process. Winners are to cover
the legal charges for the notarization of the claims form and the
acquisition of the certificate of award not DE LOTTO.

In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, provide the
following when replying:
Name:
Nationality:
Country of residence:
Tel number:

Delays will compel us to disperse your funds, in other words, we shall
divert your funds as stated above. Kindly remember to quote your reference
number numbers in all correspondence.
Finally, you call on us and make sure that you save a copy of this mail and
note every letter clearly as stated for we will not be held responsible
should there be any complications in this transaction due to laxity on your
part.

Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for being
part of our promotional program.

Yours truly,
Wendy Witkamp.
De Lotto.

NOTICE: You have received this message from De Lotto international prize
dept. at your e-mail address because you have visited on of our sponsored
sites and have voluntarily given your email address to receive mails from
their sponsors.If you wish to be taken out of this list do not reply to this
mail, reply to the agent with the words remove. If you are not the intended
recipient, you must not, directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute,
print or copy any part of this message. If you believe you have received
this message in error, please delete it and all copies of it from your
system and notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail. Thank you.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam