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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 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.
  • natlottouk@netscape.net

Fraud email example:

From: "natlotto uk" <national_lottouk@msn.com>
Date: Fri, 06 Jan 2006 13:57:05 +0000
Subject: your lottery winnings

The National Lottery
P O Box 1010
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)

Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369


WINNING NOTIFICATION:
We happily announce to you the draw (#963) of the UK
NATIONAL LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program held on
Wednesday 30th Dec, 2005.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:
56475600545 188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the
lucky numbers:
03-07-09-21-35-39 (bonus no.32), which subsequently
won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e match 5 plus bonus.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum
of £1500.000.00 (one million five hundred thousand pounds only) in cash
credited to file KTU/9023118308/03.
This is from a total cash prize of £6.000.000.00 shared amongst
the(4)lucky winners in this category i.e Match 5 plus bonus.
All participants for the online version were selected
randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and
extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations, and corporate
bodies that are listed online. This promotion takes place weekly.

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 £1500.000.00 (one million five
hundred thousand pounds only) will 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:

Mr Philip Anderson
natlottouk@netscape.net


--

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam