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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:
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
• 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.
  • oceanicagencia@netscape.net

Fraud email example:

From: "BONO LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL SPAIN" <infomailersec17@msn.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 11:15:28 +0000
Subject: winning notification

FROM THE DESK OF THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS AWARD DEPARTMENT

Ref: FER/4690/6103/24
Batch:245-379-482
Winning No:701/RMD/123

Attn: We happily announce to you the draw of the Bono Lottery International
Program held on the 26th of September,2005. Your name "email address" was
attached
to ticket number; 12324277 serial number 6663817262 This batch draws the
lucky numbers as follows 2-9-22-23-24-30 bonus number 5, which consequently
won the lottery in the second category.

You hereby have been approved lump sum pay of? 1,000,000.00 (ONE MILLION
DOLLARS)file from the total cash prize of ?15,000,000.00 shared
amongst ten lucky winners based on their category.

All participants "email address" were selected through a computer balloting
system drawn from Nine hundred thousand names from Canada,Australia,United
States,Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceanic as part of our
international
promotions program which is conducted annually.

This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by some multinational companies as
part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where
they have operational base.
To process your claims you are hereby advice to contact the appointed agent
below with your Full Name, Contact Home and Office Address Tel & Fax Number
for easy communication.

MR.NELSON SMITH
OCEANIC AGENCIA SPAIN
Email:oceanicagencia@netscape.net

Please quote your reference, batch and winning number which can be found
on the top left corner of this notification as well as your full names and
address to help locate your file easily.

For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information
confidential
from the public until your claim is processed and your prize released to
you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid dual claiming and
unwarranted
taking advantage of this program by non-participant or unofficial personnel.
Note, all winnings must be claimed before 29th of October, 2005 otherwise
your
prize will be returned as Unclaimed and eventually donated to charity.

Congratulations once again on your winnings!!!

Best Regards
Angela Sanchez
Co-ordinator
BONO LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL SPAIN.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam