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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
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• 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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "million 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 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.
  • infolottonet@netscape.net (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: infolottonet@gmail.com <infolottonet@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 21:19:46 -0000
Subject: congratulation! you are a winner

LOTTONET INTERNATIONAL
FROM: THE DESK OF THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT,
REF: LN9087/9087
BATCH NO: 22/307/NL.

SERIAL NO: LN990190/NL
LUCKY NO: NLDLN/5642
ATTENTION: Sir/Madam,

We are pleased to inform you of the announcement today as a winner of the
LOTTONET INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS held on 4TH MARCH, 2006 .
You or your company e-mail address, with serial number LN990190/NL drew the lucky numbers
NLDLN/5642, and consequently won the lottery in the "2nd" category.
You have therefore been approved a lump sum pay out of Two Million United States Dollars
US$2,000,000.00 in cash credited to file REF NO:LN9087/9087 . This is from total prize
money of US$20,500,000.00 shared among the Seven international winners
in three diffrent award categories. All participants were selected through a computer
balloting system drawn from 25,500,000 email addresses from Middle East,
Canada, Asia, Africa, Europe and North America and Oceania as part of our
International Promotions Program, which is conducted twice annually.

Due to the mix up of some numbers and email addresses, we ask that
you keep this award strictly from public notice until your claim has been
processed and your money remitted to your account. This is part of our
security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by
participants of this program.
We hope with a part of your prize, you will participate in our end of year
high stakes US$1.1 billion International Lottery.
To begin your claim, please contact

MR. RONALD DE VRIES
TEL: + (31) 649-304-789
EMAIL:infolottonet@netscape.net.
for due processing and remittance of your prize money to a designated account of your choice.
Remember, you must contact your claim agent not later than 18TH MARCH, 2006 after this date, all
funds would be returned as UNCLAIMED .
NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please
remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in every one of your
correspondences with US. Furthermore, should there be any change of
your e-mail address, do inform US as soon as possible.
Congratulations again from all our staff.
Sincerely,
MR. RICHARD COLE.
LOTERIE CO-ORDINATOR

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam