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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
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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:

• 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!

Fraud email example:

From: James Kelvin <overseasclaimsunit2@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 02:20:54 +0100 (BST)
Subject: ATTENTION: VICTIM-FULLNAME


Dear VICTIM-FULLNAME,

Greetings from the claims department of the UK National Lottery. I am in receipt of your email update as regards the confirmation of your prize winning. Please be advised that this is neither a junk mail, nor a joke.

Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from a pool of over 25,000 names of distinguished professionals drawn from Europe, America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Middle-East, parts of Africa, and North & South America as part of our international promotions program conducted twice in a week to encourage prospective overseas entries. The internet emailing idea was used, since most people do are not able to purchase tickets and play outside the UK.

I urge you to act as instructed by the delivery department, and I assure you that you will have every cause to appreciate this award given to you.

Get back to me as soon as possible when you receive your parcel.

Have a wonderful day.

Mr. James Kelvin.


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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam