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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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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:
  • "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 mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +447023051656 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • fedmanholms@yahoo.com

Fraud email example:

From: "Emma Johnson" <uklottodraws2005@katamail.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: fedmanholms@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 13:51:15 +0100
Subject: Winning Notification


Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369
UK-LOTTO Headquarters:
The Marina Offices,
St Peters Yacht Basin,
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 1HX
England

WINNING NOTIFICATION:

We happily announce to you the draw (#1045) of the UK NATIONAL
LOTTERY,online Sweepstakes International program held on Wednesday 28th
of December, 2005 in NEWCASTLE, UNITED-KINGDOM.

Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with
Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers:06.08.10.19.30.42
.........[23] Bonus Ball, which subsequently won you the lottery in the
2nd
category i.e match 6. You have therefore been approved to claim a total
sum of £ 850,000.00 (Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand POUNDS) in cash,
credited to file ktu/9023118308/03. This is from a total cash prize of
£ 3. 4 Million pounds, shared amongst the first Four (4) lucky winners
in this category.

All participants for this 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 £ 850,000 (Eight hundred and fifty
thousand
pounds) 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 receive 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, contact our fiduciary agent:
http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/results/results.do

Name:Mr.Fedman Holms
Email:fedmanholms@yahoo.com
Tel:+44-702-305-1656
Fax:+44-707-505-5500

Congratulations once again from all members and staff of this
program. Thank you for being part of our promotional lottery programs.

Yours faithfully,

Emma Johnson
Online coordinator for UK NATIONAL LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program

CONFIDENTIAL NOTICE: This email message, including any attachments, is
intended only for the use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain
information that is privileged, confidential and prohibited from
unauthorized disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the
intended recipient of this message, any dissemination, distribution or
copying
of this message is strictly prohibited. If you received this message in
error, please notify the sender by reply email and destroy all copies
of the original message.

Copyright © 1994-2005 The UK National Lottery Inc

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam