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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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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:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
• 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.
  • +447005978336 (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.
  • andrewnelliz_hsclaims@web2mail.com

Fraud email example:

From: "Andrew Neliz" <andrew_neliz_005@msn.com>
Reply-To: andrewnelliz_hsclaims@web2mail.com
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 18:33:42 +0000
Subject: Congratulations!!!

FROM THE DESK OF THE PRIZE DIRECTOR
HALIFAX SWEEPSTAKES/PRIZE AWARD DEPT
24-01-2006
Tel: +44-700-597-8336
Fax: +44-709-280-5141

LOT #JUL3159K

Dear Sir/Madam,

RE: FINAL NOTICE

Good Day! My name is Andrew Nelliz;the prize director representing the
Goldman International
Lottery Foundation Claim Department.Futher to our email Dated Oct 12th in
which you were informed
of your selection as the prize winner of our quarterly US$50,000.00 Dollar
award, we are yet to
receive any response from you.

Every year we enter 50,000 names from different lottery databases
worldwide,and our network
indicates that you were selected as a prize winner on Oct 8th 2005 and you
still have not
claimed your winnings for the sum of US$50,000.00.Now we are required to
notify you that if
we do not hear from you within 2 weeks from the day this e-mail is sent,
your file will be
closed and you will no longer be able to claim your winnings. Usually when a
winner does not
claim their money, there should be a note stating why before we can close
their file.

To elaborate further, this draw was held in London, where our head office is
located.
Your lot number drew lucky numbers 6-10-13-17-24-45 that consequently won in
the 3rd category.
You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of US$50,000.00 from
our main payment
office should you claim within 14 working days time frame.

Now, we would like to explain to you the Federal and International Law
governing the personal
collection of cash prizes. According to the Federal and International Law,
prize winnings are
released as soon as your Clearance and local taxes have been paid.Once Your
clearance and
local taxes have been paid,you will receive your winnings in the form of a
certified check or
should you request, by bank transfer directly into a bank account or any
account nominated by
you.

For security purpose and clarity, we strongly advise that you keep your
winning information
confidential until your claims have been fully 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 nominees.

So once again, Congratulations to you! For more information please contact
our main processing
office in the United Kingdom through
email:andrewnelliz_hsclaims@web2mail.com or you can call on

Tel:011-44-703-191-5958

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Nelliz.
HALIFAX SWEEPSTAKES AGENT.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam