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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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  (+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:
  • "into your nominated bank account" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "million united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
• 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.
  • agenttheodorus@netscape.net

Fraud email example:

From: "wendy witkamp" <awardnotificatie008@msn.com>
Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2006 13:22:53 +0000
Subject: LOTTO NL

LOTTO NL

INTERNATIONAL PRIZE AWARD DEPT.

REF No: FAQ/231-ILGI0431/06
BATCH No: HSV/15/006/FAQ
TICKET No: 2058-9686-4548-7646
SERIAL No: 226-96-54-06
LUCKY No: 8-33-23-22-65-36

RE: WINNING FINAL NOTIFICATION

Sir, Madam

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Lottery Winners
International programs held on the 2nd of January 2006. Your E-mail address
attached to Ticket number 2058-9686-4548-7646 with Serial number
226-96-54-06 drew the lucky numbers 8-33-23-22-65-36, which consequently won
in the 1st category; you have therefore been approved for a lump sum payout
of US$ 2,000,000.00 (Two Million United States Dollars). This is from a
total cash prize of USD$20,000,000.00 Million shared amongst Ten
International Lucky Winners in the Category A + (Plus).

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

This lottery is a promotional program by LOTTO, NL (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 to enhance and encourage human development
across the globe.

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 legalized and
your certificate of award obtained. But note that due to a mixed up of some
names and addresses, we would appreciate that you keep your winning to your
self, even after your claims has been processed and your funds was remitted
to you. 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 15th of January 2006. After this
date all unclaimed funds will be included in the next stake.

To file for your claim, please contact our /your processing agent
Mr. Theodorus Jozef
Email: agenttheodorus@netscape.net

NOTE: All winnings must be legalized and a certificate of award must be
obtained from the Gaming Board to complete the claims process, this
certificate can only be obtained through legal representation by LOTTO.NL,
so winners are to cover the legal charges for the legalization of the claims
form and the acquisition of the certificate of award not LOTTO.NL
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 in all correspondence.
Finally, you 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
Lotto.nl

NOTICE: You have received this message from Lotto NL international prize
dept. at your e-mail address because you have visited one 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.



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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam