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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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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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: GOOGLE INFO <google@google05.orangehome.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 21:01:44 +0100 (CET)
Subject: CONTACT CLAIMS AGENCY


FROM:LOTTERY COORDINATOR,
INT. PROMOTIONS AND PRICE AWARD DEPARTMENT
GOOGLE. Bolos Avenue 12900 kd .
RESULTS FOR CATEGORY "A" DRAWS
Congratulations to you as we bring to your notice, the results of the
First Category draws of E-MAIL LOTTERY organised by GOOGLE INT. We are
happy to inform you that you have emerged a winner under the First
Category, which is part of our promotional draws. The draws were held
on 28th of September 2006 and results are being officially announced today
30th of October 2006. Participants were selected through a computer ballot
system drawn from 5,500,000 email addresses of individuals and
companies from Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East,
and Oceania as part of our International Promotions Program. Your e-
mail address, attached to ticket number 675432890044/376, with serial
number 2200-33 drew the lucky numbers 1-0-11-44-03-22 and consequently
won in the First Category. You have therefore been awarded a lump sum
pay out of One million (1,000,000.00) euros, which is the winning
payout for Category A winners. This is from the total prize money from
1,500,000 euros shared among the 2 winners in this category. Your fund
is now deposited with the paying Bank. In your best interest to avoid
mix up of numbers and names of any kind, we request that you keep the
entire details of your award strictly from public notice until the
process of transferring your claims has been completed, and your funds
remitted to your account. This is part of our security protocol to
avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by participants / non
participants of this program. Please contact your claims agent
immediately for due processing and remittance of your prize money to a
designated account of your choice:To file for your claim, please
contact the CLAIMS agent.
Mr.Andreas Kameas,
Cable Trust Agency
0030-694-711-5605
Email:cablelotteryco@aol.com
Academias 53,
11269 Athens
GREECE.
You are advised to contact the agents by email.
NOTE: For easy
reference and identification, find below your reference and Batch
numbers. Remember to quote these numbers in every one of your
correspondence with your claims agent. REFERENCE NO:GPINT/7980/4376/06
BATCH NO: 33/904/G3K. Congratulations once again from all our staff and
thank you for being part of our promotions program.
Sincerely Yours,
Mrs Elke Schmidt.
PROMOTIONS COORDINATOR.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam