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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.

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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:
  • "claims 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.
  • +31617370942 (Netherlands, 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.
  • destinylottery@netscape.net (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Brenda Smith <coordinator_destiny@walla.com>
Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 08:28:57 +0200
Subject: Grand Prize Winner !!


From: THE LOTTERY COORDINATOR,
International Promotions/Prize Award Department
DESTINY LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL.
KRUITBERG 100 A, 1104 BG,
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS.
 
Dear Winner,
  
                            RESULTS OF CATEGORY "A" DRAWS
 
Congratulations!! We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual final draws from the DESTINY LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL.
The online cyber lotto draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 20.000.00 companies/ corporate bodies and 30.000.000 individual email addresses from Europe, North & South America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Middle-East and Africa, picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet. "NO TICKETS WERE SOLD".
After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail address emerged as one of the winners in the category "A" with the following:
 
REFERENCE NUMBER: DLINT/3712/4804/06
Batch Numbers: B2/S40-19
Serial number :15-13-22
Lucky numbers: 12-41-73-60 -46.
 
You as well as the other winner are therefore to receive a cash prize of Euro 850.000.00 (Eight Hundred & Fifty Thousand Euros), each as payout for Category A winners. This is from the total prize money of Euros10.200.000 shared among the 12 winners in this category. 
Your prize award has been insured with your e-mail address and will be transferred to you upon meeting our requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and satisfactory report.
To begin the claims processing of your prize winnings you are advised to contact our licensed and accredited claims agent for category "A" winners with the information below:
Mr. Arnold Brown (Paying/Foreign Department Manager)
Email: destinylottery@netscape.net
Tel: 31-617-370-942 /Fax: 31-847-301-193
 
You are expected to provide the following details below to your claims agent:
1) BATCH AND REFFERENCE NUMBERS
2) FULL NAMES
3) AGE
4) OCCUPATION
5) MAILING ADDRESS
6) PHONES AND FAX NUMBERS
7) EMAIL ADDRESS
 
NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 20 days. After this date all unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake. Remember to quote your reference information in all correspondence.
 
You are to keep all lottery information away from the general public especially your reference and Batch numbers. (This is important as a case of double claims will not be entertained).
 
Congratulations once again from all our staffs and thank you for being part of our promotions program.
 
Yours Sincerely,
 
Mrs. Brenda Smith. (Lottery Coordinator)
 
N. B. Any breach of confidentiality Or Secrecy on the part of the winners will result to disqualification and if you are below 18 years of age, you are automatically disqualified. Please do not reply to this mail. Contact your Claims agent immediately.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam