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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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:

• 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")
• 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.
  • +27832490056 (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.
  • henry_morgan222@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Lotto Draw" <lottodraw2528@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 06:15:54 -0700
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION!!!

The National Lottery
P O Box 1010
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
Ref No: UK/9420X2/68
Batch No: 074/05/ZY369
                                      

                      WINNING NOTIFICATION:

Dear Winner,

We happily announce to you today, the draw (#1038) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program which was held on the 20th February, 2006.

                      

Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers:

Bonus Ball [42] which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e match 5 plus bonus.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £500,000.00 ( Five Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterlings) in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/03.

This is from a total cash prize of £5,000,000.00 shared among the first Ten (10) 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 and email addresses through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations and corporate bodies that are listed online. This promotion takes place anually.

Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our African booklet representative office in South Africa as indicated in your play coupon.
In view of this, your £500,000.00 ( Five Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterlings) would be released to you by  our payment office in South Africa.

Our African agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds to you 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.

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

South African Lottery Claim Unit
Mr. Henry Morgan
Phone:+27 83 249 0056

Email: henry_morgan222@yahoo.com

Goodluck from all the members of staff of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.

Yours faithfully,

 

Brian Hunt

Online coordinator for UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,
Sweepstakes International Program.

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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam