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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.

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:
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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.
  • +27734711442 (South Africa, 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.
  • agentkimaclaimoffice@yahoo.com

Fraud email example:

From: lotteryorg@workmail.co.za
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 14:23:51 +0200
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS" BONO LOTTERY LUCKY WINNER

FROM THE DESK OF THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER
Mr Philip Zuma
EUROPEAN UNION INTERNATIONAL BONO LOTTERY
AWARD DEPARTMENT.

Ref: FER/4690/6103/24
Batch:245-379-482
Winning No: 2-5-9-22-23-24-30.


WINNING NOTIFICATION


Attn: We happily announce to you the draw of the EUROPEAN UNION INTERNATIONALBONO
LOTTERY Program , 2005. Your name "email address" was attached to ticket number;
12324277 serial number 6663817262 This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows
2-9-22-23-24-30 bonus number 5, which consequently won the lottery in the second
category. You hereby have been approved lump sum pay of £2,000,000.00
(TWO MILLION POUNDS) file Ref: FER/8309/1209/26 from the total cash prize of
18,000,000.00 shared amongst ten lucky winners based on their category.


All participants "email address" were selected through a computer balloting
system drawn from Nine hundred thousand names from Canada,Australia,
United States,Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceanic as part of our
international promotions program which is conducted annually.This Lottery
was promoted and sponsored by some multinational companies as including
Bill Gate, and some other EU governmental personalities part of their social
responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they have operational base.


To process your claims you are hereby advice to contact our claim agent with
this information:

NAME:..................................
ADDRESS:...............................
NATIONALITY:...........................
SEX:...................................
AGE:...................................
PHONE/MOBILE:..........................
FAX:...................................
OCCUPATION:............................
COMPANY:...............................
BATCH/WINNING NUMNBER:............................................


MR.FRED KIMAS
CLAIM AGENT
EUROPEAN UNION INTERNATIONAL BONO PROMOTIONS

Email: agentkimaclaimoffice@yahoo.com

PHONE:+27 73 47 11 442.

For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information
confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your
prize released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid dual
claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this program by non-participant
or unofficial personnel.


Note.Do not wast time in contacting our claim agent in any of the region or
the country that your winning fall within.

Congratulations once again on your winnings!!!

Best Regards
JOYCE TAYLOR
Co-coordinator
EUROPEAN UNION INTERNATIONAL BONO PROMOTIONS.

Yours faithfully,
JOYCE TAYLOR
Online coordinator
EUROPEAN UNION INTERNATIONAL BONO PROMOTIONS,
Open 7 days 7am-7pm.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam