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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
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims 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.
  • +31620282459 (Netherlands, prepaid mobile phone)
• 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.
  • acwglii@netscape.net (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "bbcalert bbcalert" <bbcalert@msn.com>
Reply-To: henoristrust@netscape.net
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 16:46:35 +0000
Subject: Microsoft news 2006 congratulation!!!


!!NATIONAL LOTTERY INCORPORATE!!

It is our great pleasure to inform you of the result of the just concluded
final draws of the National Lottery Incorporate promotion programme. The
online cyber draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 550,000 e-mail
addresses of individual and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated
random computer selection from the web. No tickets were sold. After this
automated computer ballot, your e-mail address emerged as one of five
winners in the category "B" with the followings:

Ref Number: NLI/BA65TY-N21
Batch Number: NLI VR9/0058
Ticket Number: AL18/BQ1709
Serial Number: TY0094
Lucky number: 090 52 011

You, as well as other winners are to receive a cash prize of
$1,750,000.00.(ONE MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED& FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS) each from
the total payout.
Your prize award has been insured with your e-mail address and will be
transferred to you upon meeting our requirements, statutory obligations,
verifications, validations and satisfactory report. To begin the claims
processing of your prize winnings you are advised to contact our licensed
and accredited claims agent for category "B" winners with the information’s
below:


Mr. Cason Van Lunneker
TEL: Tel: +316-20282-459
Email:acwglii@netscape.net

NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 14 days. After this date
all unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake. Remember to quote
your reference information in all correspondence. You are to keep all
winning information away from the general public especially your reference
and ticket numbers. (This is important as a case of double claims will not
be entertained).

Anybody under the age of 18 and members of the affiliate agencies are
automatically not allowed to participate in this program.

Thank you and congratulations!!!

VALERIE JOHNSON (MRS)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam