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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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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.
  • mr_jonesmoses@yahoo.com

Fraud email example:

From: "office file" <officefile2@msn.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 17:20:54 +0000
Subject: CHRISTIAN IS LOTTERY WINNER DO CONTACT PAYMENT OFFICER

BRITISHLONDON UK/SOUTH AFRICA NATIONAL LOTTERY
ORGANIZATION
FROM: THE DESK OF:
MRS.MARY DON BUSH (CO-ORDINATOR)
BRITISH LONDON UK/ SOUTH AFRICANational LOTTERY
ORGANIZATION
REF: No:555/750/85756
BATCHNO:8265378393
TICKET NO:68574521345
Attn:Christian

We are pleased to inform you, THAT AS A RESULT OF OUR
RECENT LotterY DRAWS HELD on the1ST JAN,2006.

Your e-mail address attached to ticketnumber
No:68574521345 with serial number 652-110 drew lucky
numbers8-00-22-45-22-99 which consequently won in the
2nd category.

youhave therefore been approved for a lump sum pay o
ut of USD$ 8,000 notethat All participants in this
lottery program have been selectedrandomly through a
computer ballot system drawn from over20,000
companies and 30,000,000 individual email addresses
from allsearch engines and web sites. This
promotional program takes placeevery year, and is
promoted and sponsored by eminent personalitieslike
the Sultan of Brunei, bill gates of microsoft inc and
othercorporate organisations all over the world. this
is to encourage theuse of the internet and computers
worldwide.
For security purpose andclarity, we advise that you
keep your winning information confidentialuntil your
claims have been processed and your money remitted to
you.This is part of our security protocol to avoid
double claims andunwarranted abuse of this program by
some participants. We look forwardto your active
participation in our next year USD1 million slot.
Youare requested to contact our clearance officer
below to assist you withyour winnings and subsequent
payments. all winnings must be claimed notlater than
one month After the date of this notice.

To file for yourclaim, please contact our fiducial
agent/ our payment center inafrica:

NAME: MR.JONES MOSES.
E-MAIL:mr_jonesmoses@yahoo.com


Pleasenote, in order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, rememberto quote your reference number
and batch numbers in all correspondence.Furthermore,
should there be any change of address do inform our
agentas soon as possible.

Congratulations once more and thank you forbeing part
of our promotional program.

NOTE: YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLYDISQUALIFIED IF YOU ARE
BELOW 18 YEARS OF AGE.

Sincerely yours,
MRS.MARY DON BUSH(CO-ORDINATOR)
LOTTERYCO-ORDINATOR



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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam