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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:
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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.

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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 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.
  • +31649218888 (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.
  • claimsdirector@atmail.nl

Fraud email example:

From: "luckystarpromo@mail2world.com" <luckystarpromo@mail2world.com>
Date: Sat, 04 Feb 2006 06:01:55 +0700
Subject: AWARDS WINNING NOTIFICATION



FROM: LUCKYSTAR E-GAMES
WINNING NOTICE FOR CATEGORY "A" WINNER

RE: AWARDS WINNING NOTIFICATION

Dear Consolation Prize Winner,

NOTICE OF CONSOLATION PRIZE WINNING

This email confirms that you have been notified of by LUCKYSTAR E-GAMES Bv
Netherlands of your email lottery winning for 2005 LuckyStar Lotto-Wheel
E-Games held on Nov 2005.

We wish to congratulate you on the selection of your email Ref number which
was selected among the 45 Lucky consolation prize winners. Your email ID
identified with REF: 35149/337-5247/LMO and was selected by Electronic
Random selection System (ERSS) with entries from the 50,000 different email
addresses enrolled for the Lotto-Wheel E-Games. Your email ID included among
the 50,000 different email addresses where submitted by our partner
international email provider companies.

Ref Number: 35149/337-5247/LMO
Batch Number: 2637/2312-LNI/2005
Ticket Number: 967666233
Lucky Amount: 1.500, 000.00(0ne million five hundred thousand Euros only)

You are required to file claims for your lottery prize winning by
contacting the lottery claims Processing Officer with your winning
information provided above.

Lottery Claims Officer:
Name: Van Der Velder
Email: claimsdirector@atmail.nl
Tel: +31-649-218-888
Fax: +31-847-520-740

Congratulations Once again from all our staffs on your consolation prize
winning, we hope you will partake in our forth coming LUCKYSTAR E-GAMES.

Yours truly,

Mrs.Sara Borsch
(Lottery Coordinator)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam