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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
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• 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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
• 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.
  • +447031915480 (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.
  • john_wright65@hotmail.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: "United Nations Lottery" <unitednationspromo@msn.com>
Reply-To: john_wright65@hotmail.co.uk
Date: Thu, 05 Jan 2006 08:10:50 +0000
Subject: INCREDIBLE!!! YOU HAVE BEEN SELLECTED

CONTROLLER         The United Nations Lottery Headquatres 270 John Downey Drive New Britain CT  06051 LONDON UNITED KINGDOM Tel: +44703-191-5480 FAX:+44870-490-1314                                                                     (Customer Services) Ref: UN/9420X2/68 Batch: 074/05/ZY369                                                                                                                DATE:5/1/2005                              & ;a mp;n bsp;       NOTIFICATION OF WINNINGS: Dear Sir/Madam We happily announce to you the draw (#942) of the , online Sweepstakes International program held on 22nd of December, 2005. Your e-mail address attached to TICKET NUMBER: 1416-4612-750  with SERIAL NUMBER:3187-17 drew the LUCKY DREW NUMBERS:31-17-8-28-55 (bonus no.25), which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e match 5 plus bonus. You have therefore been approved to claim total sum of £2,500,000.00(Two Million Five Hundred Thousand  Great Britain Pound Sterling) in cash credited to your file .This is from a total cash prize of  £25,000,000.00 shared amongst the One Hundred  (100) lucky winners in this categoryi.e Match 5 plus bonus. All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online. This promotion takes place weekly.  your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your £2,500,000.00 (Two million, five hundred thousand Great Britain Pound Sterling)will be released to you by any of our payment offices in Europe. Our European agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact her.For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claim is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned. To file for your claim,Please contact our claims  agent ****************************************************************************************************** MR.JOHN WRIGHT 270 John Downey Drive New Britain CT  06051 LONDON UNITED KINGDOM Tel:+44703-191-5480 FAX:+44870-490-1314 Official Email:john_wright65@hotmail.co.uk ****************************************************************************************************** Endeavour to contact him with the following informations: 1,Full Names 2,Contact Address 3,Telephone Number 4,Age 5,Sex 6,Nationality 7,Occupation 8, Winning information i,e ticket number, batch number, reference number, serial number e.t.c Congratulations from me and members of staff of  THE UNITED NATIONS LOTTERY. Yours faithfully, Brian Hunt(Mr) Online coordinator for THE UNITED NATIONS LOTTERY Sweepstakes International Program For and on behalf of the Office of the Secretary General OF THE UNITED NATIONS   PLEASE NOTE THAT WINNERS WHO  RESIDE CLOSE TO PEOPLE WHO WERE AFFECTED BY THE HURRICANE KATERINA  AND THE HURRICANE RITA  WILL BE REQUIRED TO DONATE TWENTY PERCENT OF THEIR WINNINGS TO THOSE VICTIMS

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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam