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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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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!
• 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.
  • microsoftfiduciary@btinternet.com

Fraud email example:

From: "microsoft\.onlinepromo" <microsoft.onlinepromo@laposte.net>
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 02:12:46 +0100
Subject: DRAW RESULT CONFIRMATION FOR REF. NUMBER MCS/231OXI/06.



OVERSEAS SUBSCRIBERS AGENTS
2006 PROMOTIONAL PROGRAM
20 Howard Barking London, 7UA11G
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer's Service Center)
Promoter: Microsoft®
Draw 1026 Friday, Mar 24th. 2006.

NOTIFICATION

DRAW RESULT CONFIRMATION FOR REF. NUMBER MCS/231OXI/06.
We happily announce to you the draw of the Microsoft United Kingdom, New year internet promotions programs held on the 4th of March, 2006 in London.
Congratulations! You are among the ten (10) randomly selected for the New year promotions held in London. Selection was made using special software to generate valid email addresses at random from over 40,000 company and 20,000,000 individual email addresses from all over the world. All facilities and computer software were tested by Statisticians.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number 5224652456UT with serial number 5388/02, batch number 12L/2006/04, lottery ref number MCS/231OXI/06 and drew lucky numbers 06 - 14 - 17 - 25 -32 - 48 bonus ball 09 which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e match 5 plus bonus.
Apparently, 10 individual email addresses were selected to recieved from a total cash prize of 8.5 million pounds. You have therefore been approved for the total sum of 850,000 (eight hundredand fifty thousand pounds) in cash credited to file MLTT/MTU/2005ETN.
=============================================================================================
Please read and follow all enclosed instructions very carefully. Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money remitted to you. This is part of our security Protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements. You are to contact your fiduciary agent for further instruction on the prize/payment schedule.

To file for your claim, please contact our Fiduciary Agent with the following details as stated below:

Full Names: [ ______________________ ] Residential Address: [ __________________ ] Sex[_____] Age: [ ________ ]
Nationality/Country:[ ______________ ] Occupation: [ __________________ ] Ref/Batch Number: [ ___________________]

Mr Hamilton Smith

FIDUCIARY AGENT
E-Mail: microsoftfiduciary@btinternet.com

Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications please remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all correspondence. Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform our agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations once more from our members and staff and thank you for being part of our promotional program. Note that you must contact your fidiciary agent within one week of receipt of this notice.

Sincerely,
MRS. MAGRET SPENCER
Co-ordinator
Verification Unit

Accédez au courrier électronique de La Poste : www.laposte.net ;
3615 LAPOSTENET (0,34 €/mn) ; tél : 08 92 68 13 50 (0,34€/mn)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam