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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:
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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:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found 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.
  • ben_lawrence1@yahoo.ca (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "shaws_takers" <shaws_takers@terra.com.mx>
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 01:55:49 -0600
Subject: LOTTERY WINNING NOTIFICATION


FROM THE DESK OF THE PROMOTION MANAGER
SHAWSTAKERS LOTTERY, SOUTH AFRICA.

DEAR SIR/MADAM

We are pleased to inform you of our announcement today, 20th July 2006, of winners in the SHAWSTAKERS LOTTERY Promotional draw held on the 9th April 2006.Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from Africa,
America, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Middle East, and New Zealand as part of our electronic business Promotions Program.

You qualified for the draw as a result of you visiting various
e-business website we are running on the Internet.A ticket number
100-309-7482,with serial number 111 410-887 was attached to your entry which drew the
lucky numbers 1 10 29 37 45 49 and consequently won in the second
category.You are therefore awarded a cash prize of US$900,000.00, which is the winning
payout for Second category winners.This is from the total prize money of
US$13,650,000.00 shared among several international/local winners in
the Second category.
CONGRATULATIONS!

You are to file in your claim to the director of claims department with the information below to arrange for your payout,
Mr.Ben Lawrence.
Email:ben_lawrence1@yahoo.ca
Phone:Tel:27-73766908

Ensure that you contact the claim department not later than
21 days from the day you receive this notification message.

Sincerely,

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam