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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:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "foreign service manager" (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)
  • "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• 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.
  • securities@myway.com

Fraud email example:

From: "Willson Duke" <willson_duke@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 23:42:28 +0000
Subject: Cogrates

ORGANISATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES [OPEC]
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LOTTERY PROGRAM.
AWARD DEPT.NIGERIA
REF:ODD/73167860819/06
BATCH: 14/055/IPD/GOX5
WINNING NO: 750333933-90


DEAR WINNER,

WINNING NOTIFICATION / FINAL NOTICE:

This is to inform you of the announcement made on the 28th of April 2006 of
your selection as one of the 17winners of the OPEC INTERNATIONADEVELOPMENT
LOTTERY PROGRAM held recently as part of our NEW YEAR BONANZA.Participants
were selected through a computer ballot random sampling method drawn from
,500,000 names/emailaddresses of individuals and companies from Africa,
America, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, and Oceania as part of our
International Promotions Program.


You/Your company, attached to winning number 750333933-90, with serial
number 544018 drew the lucky numbers 27-842-70-77 and consequently won in
the first Category. You are herefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of
USD$2,700,000.00 (Two Million Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars only) in cash
credited to file REF NO.GML/2551256003/23. This year's Diversity OPEC
sweepstakes Lottery program made available the sum of $34,000,000 from the
OPEC fund for international development to be
shared among seventeen lucky winners across the world.

Place of Claims: - All cash prizes under an amount defined by the Director
may be claimed through a duly authorized claim center in any of the OPEC
members’ country, which may be but is not limited to an Agent's licensed
location or at the offices of the Division of Revenue. All cash prizes
greater than $5000 must be claimed at the claims agent office in any of the
OPEC members’ country
zone for such purpose.

In light of this, your prize money will be settled by our claims agent in
Nigeria PECIFIC SECURITIES AND FINANCE LTD. You are to contact our agent by
Email within a week of receiving this notice. Please find full contact
details below:

Dr. Thomas Ayuba.
FOREIGN SERVICE MANAGER,
PECIFIC SECURITIES AND FINANCE LTD.
7 Victoria Garden City Ikoyi Lagos.
Nigeria.
Email Address: pecific-securities@myway.com


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 your agent. Furthermore you are seriously advised to
keep all winning lottery information and numbers from the public in line
with OPEC security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse
of this program by unscrupulous individuals.

Congratulations again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our
Promotions program.

Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Willson Duke.
THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,

N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to
disqualification. Please do not reply to this mail. Contact your claims
agent.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam