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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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• 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:

• 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.
  • victorray05@ny.com

Fraud email example:

From: "cheerfull gate" <cheerfulgate00901@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2006 03:23:02 -0700
Subject: WINNING NOTFICATION

CHEERFULLGATELOTTO E-MAIL LOTTERY PROMOTION

P O Box 2020

Liverpool, L70 1NL

UNITED KINGDOM


FROM:CHEERFULLGATE AWARD DEPT.
REF: SUN/2010-968091/03
BATCH: 54/010/IPD
DATE: 01/02/2006

EMAIL WINNING CONFIRMATION NOTICE

We are glad to inform you that your E-mail address appears
as the confirmed Winner of our last CHEERFULLGATE Email
lottery program held on the 30th Jan. 2006.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number
20675543256-786 with Serial number 3765-75 drew lucky
numbers 7-12-18-24-32-45, which Consequently won in the 2nd
category, you have therefore been approved For a lump sum
payment of EU2,000,000 EUROS (TWO MILLION EUROS).

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

This promotional program takes place every year. All
participants were selected through a computer ballot system
drawn from over 100,000 companies and 50,000, 000
individual email addresses and names from all over the
world.

In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications
please remember to quote your reference number and batch
numbers in all correspondence.We ask that you keep your
winning information confidential until your claims has been
processed and your money remitted to you. Remember all
winnings must be claimed not later than 20th Feb. 2006.
After this date all unclaimed funds will be included in the
next stake.

To file for your claim or for further details, please
contact our agent ( victorray05@ny.com)


In respect of our commitment towards helping the less
previledge, we ask that you voluntarily contribute 1% of
your Global winnings to any charity organization you desire
at your convinience.

Congratulations once more from our members of staff.

Mr Greg Edward


Global Winning co-ordinator

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam