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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "suite 23-30,lion towers"
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
• 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.
  • walker_financial@myway.com

Fraud email example:

From: "Alice Thomas" <althomas@sga-gamers.com>
Reply-To: walker_financial@myway.com
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 13:07:27 -0800
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!

THE FREE LOTTO COMPANY
UK OFFICE
SUITE 23-30,LION TOWERS
CENTRAL LONDON
ENGLAND
http://lottery.co.uk/res/



Dear Sir/Madam,


CONGRATULATIONS


This is to inform you that your e-mail address has been selected for the final draws of the tenth year anniversary celebration of the world Internet Services Network. Out of over four billion people surfing the Internet daily, three million people has be selected all over the world for the final draw and you are fortunate to be one of them.

However, for you to be enrolled for the final draw, kindly forward the following information to our consultants: walker_financial@myway.com;



1.Name

2.Address

3.Telephone / Fax number.

4. Occupation

5. Nationality



The draws will will be held on 16th and winners would be contacted by email on the 17th of January, 2006. Entries should be received on or before 8.00am GMT, of 16th Jan 2006. This is organized by UK National Lottery London in conjunction with YAHOO, MSN, AOL and a host of others.

Once again, we congratulate you for being selected and wish you good luck in the final draws.

Thanks

Yours faithfully

Alice Thomas





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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam