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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:
  • "claim 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!

Fraud email example:

From: "Lotto Winners" <lotto41@msn.com>
Reply-To: mrs.seawood@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 06 Jan 2006 20:04:16 +0000
Subject: CONGRATS WINNER

MICROLOTTO-ORGANISATION SEGURIDAD S.A WORLDWIDE.
FROM:THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPT.
REF NO: MOSW/25512560005/006
BATCH NO: 14/0017/IPD

ATTN: STICK WINNER.

RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION.

We are pleased to inform you, that as a result of our RECENT

LOTTERY/DRAWS HELD on the 23rd of December 2005.Your e-mail

address attached to ticket number:11 22 37 39 which

consequently won in the 4th category. you have therefore been

approved for a lump sum pay of $160,000.00USD(ONE HUNDRED AND

SIXTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ONLY) Note that All participants in

this lottery program have been selected Randomly through a

computer ballot system drawn from over 96,000 companies, and

11,000,000 individual email addresses from all search engines

and websites.

This promotional program takes place every two years, and it

is promoted and sponsored by eminent personalities like the

Sultan of Brunei, Bill Gates of Microsoft inc, Ex-president

Jose Maria Aznar of Spain and other corporate organisations.

This is to encourage the use of the Internet and computers

worldwide.

For security purpose and clarity, we advice 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 1 million euro slot. You are

required to contact your claim agent MRS REGINA SEAWOOD,

Foreign Operations Manager, MICROLOTTO-ORGANIZATION SEGURIDAD

S.A ON Email for processing and remittance of your prize money

to a designated account of your choice.

All winnings must be claimed not later than 9 days after the

date of this notice. Please note, inorder to avoid unnecessary

delays and complications, remember to quote your reference

number and batch numbers in all correspondence ,private

phone/fax and home address for easy contact. Further more,

should there be any change of address do inform our claim

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.

Yours Sincerely,
MPASTOR JERR LUSINO.
VICE PRESIDENT.
INTL LOTTO ORGANISATION.



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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam