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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.

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:
  • "fiduciary 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!
• Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
• 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.
  • +447031956908 (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.
  • lottoclaims@hotmail.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: "lotto wins" <national-lottery-co.uk1@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 16:30:08 +0100
Subject: YOU HAVE WON

The National Lottery
P O Box 1010
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM Date:23-10-2005.
(Customer Services)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

 

WINNING NOTIFICATION:

We happily announce to you the draw (#992) of the UK NATIONAL
LOTTERY,online Sweepstakes International program held on Tuesday

27th September 2005.

Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:56475600545 188 with
Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers: 08-15-30-31-34(bonus
no.40), which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.ematch 5
plus bonus.
   

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £472,926.00 (four hundred and seventy thousand nine hundred and twenty six pounds sterling) in cash credited to file
KTU/9023118308/03.

This is from a total cash prize of £472,926.00 shared amongst the 
Two (2) lucky winners in this category i.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.

Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European
booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in your play
coupon.In view of this, your £472,926.00 (four hundred and seventy thousand nine hundred and twenty six pounds sterling) would be released to you by any of our payment offices in
Europe.

Our European agent will immediately commence theprocess to facilitate
the release of your funds as soon as you contact him.

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.We also like to acknowledge our sponsors post bank of the netherlands,Fedex,DHL,UPS,Western Union.

To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent:

 Mr. Jimmy Abba

Tele/Fax:+44 703 195 6908

Email: lottoclaims@hotmail.co.uk

Call anytime within the hour of 8.30am-6.00pm mondays to fridays uk time

Good luck from me and members of staff of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.

Yours faithfully,

MRS.SANDRA JONES

Online coordinator for UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,Sweepstakes International Program

Draw 1005 Wed 10 Aug 05 Jackpot £3,074,019  NUMBER OF MATCHES  No OF WINNERS  £s PER WINNER  TOTAL  Match 6  1   £3,074,019   £3,074,019  Match 5 plus bonus  2   £472,926   £945,852  Match 5  331   £1,785   £590,835  Match 4  17601   £73   £1,284,873  Match 3  338459   £10   £3,384,590  Totals  356394   £9,280,169

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam