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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
  (+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.

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")
  • "million united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
• 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.
  • +447040101817 (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.
  • stevemason@doramail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Debbie Molina" <dmolina005@msn.com>
Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2006 13:14:23 +0000
Subject: Congratulations!!!


REF NO :EAA222147013545
BATCH NO :17/000/AEY

DEAR WINNER

WINNING NOTIFICATION

We gladly announce to you the draw of the WELFARE LOTTERY,online
International program held on the, 24th of January, 2006.Your e-mail address
attached to

ticket number: 034-1416-4612-750 with Serial number 53-68-05 drew the lucky
numbers: 00-48-20-23-44-77, which subsequently won you the lottery in
category

C. You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of US$20,000,000,00
(Twenty million united states dollars) in cash credited to file REF NO

:EAA222147013545. This is from a total cash prize of US$100,000,000.00(one
hundred million united states dollars) shared amongst the FIVE (5 ) lucky
winners

in this category.

All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World
Wide email balotting through computer draw system and extracted from over
100,000

unions,associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online. This
promotion takes place Annually. In view of this, your US$20,000,000.00
(twenty million

united states dollars) shall be released to you by your claims agent.To
begin your claim, please contact your claims agent for due processing and
remittance

of your prize money to a designated account of your choice. Details of your
claims agent is stated below:



MR. STEVE MASON
BOND FINANCE SERVICES
TELEPHONE:+447040101817
FAX:+447092807619
EMAIL: stevemason@doramail.com






You must contact BOND FINANCE SERVICES not later than 14(FOURTEEN) banking
days upon receipt of this notification. After this date, all funds will be

returned as unclaimed. All correspondences to STEVE MASON, either by fax or
email, should have this EMAIL sent along with it and also, your FULL
ADDRESS,

YOUR COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE and your EMAIL ADDRESS to which this email is
sent. you are advised to keep your winning confidential till your claim is
processed

and your money remitted to you.

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please
remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in every one of your
correspondences

with BOND FINANCE SERVICES. Furthermore, should therebe any change of your
address, do inform your claims agent as soon as possible.

Congratulations from all our staff and we hope with part of your prize, you
will participate in our end of year high stakes US$2 billion International

Lottery.

Sincerely,

Debbie Molina
THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
WELFARE LOTTERY

N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to
disqualification. Please do not reply to thi

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam