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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:
  • "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.
  • michael_miren_claimsofficer@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "MR. THOMAS BARNES" <thonbane@yahoo.co.uk> (may be fake)
Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 13:27:07 +0700
Subject: Congratulations! You're eligible




UK-LOTTO Headquarters,
The Marina Offices,
St Peters Yacht Basin,
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 1HX
England

Customer Service
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

WINNING NOTIFICATION:

We happily announce to you the draw (#1032) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program held on Saturday 13th of May, 2006 in NEWCASTLE, UNITED-KINGDOM.

Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 564 - 75600545 - 188 with Serial number 5368 - 02 drew the winning numbers: which subsequently won you the lottery in the Match 5 plus bonus category. You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £206,818 (Two Hundred And Six Thousand, Eight Hundred And Eighteen Pounds Sterling) in cash, credited to file KTU/9023118308/06. This is from a total cash prize of £1, 654,544.00 pounds sterling, shared amongst the Eight (8) lucky winners in this category. Stated hereunder is the Prize Breakdown for this particular draw: Draw 1032 Sat 13th May 06 Jackpot £1,654,544.00

NUMBER OF MATCHES No OF WINNERS £s PER WINNER TOTAL

Match 6 3 £1,792,430 £5,377,290
Match 5 plus bonus 8 £206,818
Match 5 551 £1,876 £1,033,676
Match 4 30025 £75 £2,251,875
Match 3 589706 £10 £5,897,060
Totals 620293 £16,214,445

All participants for this online version were selected randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations and corporate bodies that are listed online. This promotion takes place weekly.

Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our African booklet representative office in Nigeria as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your £206,818.00 (Two Hundred And Six Thousand, Eight Hundred And Eighteen Pounds Sterling) will be released to you by any of our payment offices in Nigeria.

Our Fiduciary Agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds 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 receive your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned!!!

To file for your claim, contact our fiduciary agent:
Name: MR. MICHAEL MIRREN
Email: Michael_miren_claimsofficer@yahoo.co.uk


Note: Because of our agent's low access to the internet in Africa, we always advice that you call your agent on the phone, before sending emails to him. Congratulations once again from all members and staff of this program. Thank you for being part of our promotional lottery programs.

Yours Faithfully,
MR. THOMAS BARNES
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