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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
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
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• What can you do when you receive 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 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.
  • southcentralsecurity@mail.win.it (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Happy Home" <info@happyhomelottery.co.uk> (may be fake)
Reply-To: interpromo@planet-save.com
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 16.25.29 +0200
Subject: Attn : Mail Win Address

From: Dr.Rita Gabriel.
Lottery Coordinator
Happy Home Internet Lottery Promotions International.
150 Tooley Street, London SE1 2TZ.

Ref. Number: 117/756/4534
Batch number: 638901517-AMB/06.

GRAND FECILITATIONS.

Hurray! You have been selected as one of the Five
lucky winners in the first edition of the Happy home
Internet Lottery Promotions International draw.You
have therefore been approved for a huge payout of $1M
(One Million US Dollar Only).

How was the selection process done? Winners were
randomly selected from an initial database of 200,000
emails which was eventually downsized to 5,000 from
which we eventually selected the final and lucky Five
due to their frequent access to internet services.This
process was drawn to compersate the internet user
through the computerized email balloting system
selecting emails from The Middle East, Asia, Africa,
Canada, Europe, USA and South America.
To ensure a smooth collection of your grand prize,you
are to contact our transfer agent by email or
telephone within a week of this notice.
Please find full contact details below:

(Payment Officer)
Contact Person:
MRS ROSE IMOLA
EUROPE AGENT OFFICE
SOUTH CENTRAL SECURITY COMPANY,
BOLOGNA ITALY
Email: southcentralsecurity@mail.win.it
Tell/Fax : +39-029-544-1829

-----------------------------------------------------
Immediately you read this message for quick and urgent
processing and release of your winnings prize money.
Please be informed that all winners must claim within
30 days. Always quote your

correspondence.Ref.Number:117/756/4534,Batch

number:638901517-AMB/06.

Full Name:

Contact address:

Country of origin:

Sex:

Age:

Occupation:

Telephone and fax number:

Furthermore you are seriously advised to keep your
winning lottery numbers to yourself in line with our
company security protocol to avoid double claiming and
unwarranted abuse of this program by unscrupulous
individuals.Please do contact your claim agent as
instructed above.

On behalf of all our staff in Happy Home Internet Lottery
Promotions International, accept my Congratulations!

Dr.Rita Gabriel.
Lottery Coordinator
Happy Home Internet Lottery Promotions International.
150 Tooley Street, London SE1 2TZ.
Tel / fax +44-20-768-11142

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam