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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:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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)
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "hundred thousand 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.
  • +31626672428 (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.
  • info_pclaimagent@myway.com

Fraud email example:

From: =?us-ascii?Q?Info=20Enquiries?= <InfoEnquiries@seznam.cz>
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 02:51:04 +0100 (CET)
Subject: =?us-ascii?Q?Lucky=20Winner=20In=20Category=20=22A=22?=

FROM THE DESK OF THE DIRECTOR,
INTERNATIONAL PRIZE AWARD DEPT,
Ref Number: PW 9590ES 9414,
Batch Number: 573881545-NL/2005

Attn Lucky Winner,

WINNING NOTIFICATION FOR CATEGORY "A" WINNER ONLY

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the
last final annual draw of our Lottery International
Programs.

The online cyber lotto draws was conducted from an
exclusive list of 25,000,000 e-mail addresses of
individual and corporate bodies picked by an
advanced automated random computer search from the
internet. No tickets were sold.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail
address emerged as a winner in the category "A" with
the following numbers attached Ref Number: PW 9590
ES 9414,Batch Number: 573881545-NL/2005
and Ticket Number: PP 3502 /8707-01

You are therefore to receive a cash prize of
$1,500,000.00. (One Million Five Hundred Thousand
United States Dollars) from the total payout
CONGRATULATIONS!!!. Your prize award has been
insured with your e-mail address and will be transferred to
you upon meeting our requirements, statutory
obligations, verifications, validations and
satisfactory report.

To file in for the processing of your prize
winnings, you are advised to contact our Certified
and Accredited claims agent for category "A" winners
with the information below:
*************************************
Name: Bona Hensen
Phone: +316 2667 2428
Email: info_pclaimagent@myway.com
*************************************
You are advice to provide him with the following
information:

Names:
Telephone/Fax number:
Nationality:
Age:

NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 14
days, thereafter unclaimed funds would be included
in the next stake. Remember to quote your reference
information in all correspondence.

You are to keep all lotto information confidential,
especially your reference and ticket numbers.
(This is important as a case of double claims will
not be entertained).Members of the affiliate
agencies are automatically not allowed to participate in this
program.

Furthermore, should there be any change of address
do inform our agent as soon as possible.

Congratulations once more from our members of staff
and thank you for being part of our promotional
program.

Yours Faithfully,
Walter Jones.
Lottery Coordinator.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam