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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:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
• 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.
  • brown2vic@netscape.net

Fraud email example:

From: SWISS LOTTO <bilcuk@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 20:45:05 +0100
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION!!


SWISS LOTTO
GESELLSCHAFT SCHWEIZER ZAHLENLOTTO
POSTFACH 4002 BASEL
REF NUMBER: CSL/74/368/05
BATCH NUMBER: GSZ-583-ST-11-12-05

DEAR SIR/MADAM,

We are pleased to inform you, THAT AS A RESULT OF OUR RECENT Lottery DRAWS HELD on the 1st oct. 2005.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number63538953216-435 with serial number 427-136 drew lucky
numbers 1 2 3 28 29 35 +36 which consequently won in the 2nd category. you have therefore been approved
for a lump sum pay out of 4,000,000 (DOLLARS) (four MILLION DOLLARS)

Note that All participants in this lottery program have been selected randomly through a computer ballot
system drawn from over 25,000 companies and 40,000,000 individualemail addresses from all search engines
and web sites.


This promotional program takes place every year, and is promoted and sponsored by eminent personalities like
the Sultan of Brunei,Bill Gate of Microsoft, Michael Dell of Dell Computers and other corporate organizations.
This is to encourage the use of the Internet and computers worldwide.For security purpose and clarity, we advise that you
keep your winning information confidential until your claims have been processed and your money remitted to you.

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claims and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants.
We look forward to your active participation in our next year USD 75 million slot.
You are requested to contact our clearance officer below to assist you with your winnings and subsequentpayments.

All winnings must be claimed not later than one month After the date of this notice.
Please note, in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, remember to quote your reference number
and batch numbers in all correspondence.
Furthermore,should there be any change of address do inform our agent as soon as possible.

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

NOTE: YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED IF YOU ARE BELOW 18 YEARS OF AGE.

REPLY TO THIS EMAIL ADDRESS:
brown2vic@netscape.net

Sincerely yours,
MRS.Victoria Brown
(LOTTERY COORDINATOR)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam