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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.

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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:
  • "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!
• This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +31649977986 (Netherlands, prepaid mobile phone)
• 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.
  • citifinances@netscape.net (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Deborah Friedmann" <information.contact1@bol.com.br>
Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2006 15:07:21 -0300
Subject: YOU HAVE WON. (CONTACT CITI FINANCE)


Dear Lucky Winner,
RE: BONUS LOTTERY PROMOTION PRIZE AWARDS WINNING NOTIFICATION
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual final draws of De Lotto Netherlands International Lottery programs. The online cyber lotto draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 25,000 e-mail addresses of individual and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet. No tickets were sold. After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail address emerged as one of two winners in the category "B" with the following:
Ref Number: 31299/212-3181/LNL
Batch Number:271426521-LNL/2006
Ticket Number:54866233
You as well as the other winner are therefore to receive a cash prize of $500,000.00(FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ONLY) each from the total payout. Your prize awards has been insured with your e-mail address and will be transferred to you upon meeting our requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and satisfactory report. To begin the claims processing of your prize winnings you are advised to contact our licensed and accredited claims agent for category "B" winners with the informatiom below:
Gam De Meyer,
Citi Finance & Management,
Marcopolotstraat 39,
1104 EA, Amsterdam-The Netherlands
Phone: +31649977986
E-mail: citifinances@netscape.net
NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 14 days. After this date all unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake. Remember to quote your reference information in all correspondence. You are to keep all lotto information away from the public i.e your reference and ticket numbers. (This is important as a case of double claims will not be entertained).Anybody under the age of 18 and members of the affiliate agencies are automatically not allowed to participate in this program. Thank you and congratulations!!!
Yours faithfully,
Mrs. Deborah Friedmann,
Games/Lottery Coordinator.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam