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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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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:
  • "cost of mailing your draft" (this will cost you money - that's what the scam is about)
  • "payment for the courier" (this will cost you money - that's what the scam is about)
  • "deadline" (they are rushing you so you don't have time to think properly)
  • "vat (5%)" (VAT is 17.5% in the UK but 5% in Nigeria)
  • "affidavit " (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
• 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: "Parcel4delivery Courier" <parcel4deliveryltd@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2006 16:26:59 +0100
Subject: Choose an option - Order: # NP7040785

8th of July 2006 

 

Order: # NP7040785

 

ATTENTION: HIKMAT QASSEM SHARABI

 

Dear Valued customer,
 
Thank you for contacting Pacels4delivery courier service.
 
This is to inform you that you have been officially cleared for payment by the Verifications Dept. at the headquarters of the UK National Lottery.
 
The original copy of this certificate, together with a covering document (Money Laundering protection and Letter of Affidavit for Claims) from the British government stating that the money was obtained legally through their international Lotto will be sent to you and the bank  as soon as you meet with any of the option selected and your winnings will be couriered or transferred to you immediately
 
You can now begin the final step of the claims process, which is the transferring of your cash prize to you. With regards to this, there are two options open to you, you are required to select the most convenient of the two.
 
The options, together with their associated conditions are presented below:
 
Option 1:

Courier of your winning draft to you via any of this channel listed below: 
 
Parcels4delivery                 (1 day delivery)
***Mailing.............................................£50.00****
***Insurance........................................ £550.00***
***Vat (5%).......................................... £022.75***
***TOTAL.............................................£622.75***

==============================================================================
 
Parcels4delivery                (2 days delivery)
***Mailing &n bsp;................................£30.00****
***Insurance.........................................£550.00***
***Vat (5%)...........................................£021.95***
***TOTAL.............................................£601.95***

==============================================================================
 
POST OFFICE MAIL (1 week delivery)
***Mailing ;.............................................£20.00****
***Insurance...........................................£550.00***
***Vat (5%)............................................£019.00***
***TOTAL...............................................£589.00***

==============================================================================
**ALL PACKAGES ARE SIGNATURE REQUIRED
==============================================================================
 
The insurance company declined reverse payment for the courier, stating that it is against their professional policy towards ensuring the safe delivery of the draft to you. That if a reverse payment is made, and something goes wrong, that we/you cannot sue the courier company or insurance company to recover the full value of t he fund as stipulated in the draft since payment for insurance cover was not made at point of mailing.
 
With the above reason, reverse payment is ruled out.Forward the cost of mailing your draft with any of the courier channel cost you choose above to us.
 
Option 2:
 
The said amount  claim £200,172 GBP will be wired to your bank account via swift bank transfer.
 
Condition: The cost of COT (commission of transfer) being charged by our transferring bank is £2,000 GBP.
 
Note that your prize is protected by a hardcover insurance policy, which makes it impossible to deduct any amount from the money before it has been remitted to you. This means that the above charges cannot be deducted from the prize and hence must be provided by you before your prize is transferred to you.
 
Please respond to this email by making a selection from the two options above.
 
Also attach a scanned copy of either your driver's license, international passport (photo page) or any other legally identifying document.
 
Also be reminded that the deadline for the claiming of winnings is exactly two weeks after the receipt of this email. After this period, your cash prize will be deemed to have been forfeited by you and will be reused in the drawings of the next edition of the lottery.
 
Good luck and Congratulations once again. Please send your response within the next 24hrs to this same email address.
 
MR. GARRY HANNINGTON
Management
Pacels4delivery Courier Service Ltd
+447722722805
Open 7days-24hrs-365days a year.

 

==============================================================================

Disclaimer
This email message is intended only for the addressee(s) and contains information that may be confidential and/or copyright. If you are not the intended recipient please notify the sender by reply email and immediately delete this email. Use, disclosure or reproduction of this email by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. No representation is made that this email or any attachments are free of viruses. Virus scanning is recommended and is the responsibility of the recipient.

==============================================================================

 

 

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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam