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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")
• 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: "Aret Franklin" <royallottosweeptakes_06@yahoo.ie>
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:08:04 +0100
Subject:

THE ROYAL ONLINE GAME 2006

THE LOTTERY COORDINATOR,
ROYAL LOTTERY IRELAND
63 Merchant Road Eastwall
D3 Dublin Ireland.
(Customer Services)

REFERENCE NUMBER: RLUK/3345/7121/09
BATCH NUMBER: R6/A442-77

Dear Prize winner,
ROYAL LOTTERY conducted its final draws, participants were selected
through a Computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 names/email
addresses of individuals and Companies from Africa, America, Asia, Australia,
Europe, Middle East, and Oceanic as part of our international promotions
program. You emerged as one of the grand draw prize in the Category A
and are there for entitled to a sum of (1,000,000 Euros)

You/Your company, attached to ticket number 8522-5-556, with serial
number 22-38 drew the lucky
numbers 13-72-75-09 (12) and consequently won in this Category.
You have therefore been awarded a lump sum pay out of (1,000,000
Euros), which is the winning payout for Category A winners. This is from the
total prize money of £3,000,000 shared among the winners in this
category.
CONGRATULATIONS!

Please contact your claims agent immediately for due processing and
remittance of your prize money to a designated account of your choice:
Mr.Paul Blair
FINANCE DIRECTOR
EQUILIBRIUM FINANCE COMPANY.
TEL: +353 857 690699
FAX: +353 81 829070
Email:admin@equilibriumfinance.org

Yours faithfully,
Aret Franklin.
Online coordinator for ROYAL NATIONAL LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program.

Copyright © 1994-2006 The Royal National Lottery Inc.
All rights reserved. Terms of Service - Guidelines

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam