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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:
  • "fiduciary 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: "Hoods" <hoods_williams@excite.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 23:06:35 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS ONCE AGAIN


FROM: MSN LOTTERY AWARD PROMOTIONPromotions/Prize Claim Award Department. REF Nº: MSN/6012505022/3 2 BATCH Nº: 29/3117/1MAFrankfurt-- -Branch-- Germany.
Attn: Daniel Arian,
I am Mr. Hoods Williams, the fiduciary agent assigned to your case to help you in the claims process of your funds.
I wish to congratulate you and say you are a lucky person to have won this lottery.
All the winners in the Lottery were selected randomly through a computer ballot system from Email addresses and Names from the World Wide Web.
You are required to forward your payment option inother to facilitate the processing of your claims as soon as your prize own is been approval for payment, your winners certificate will forward to you to the approval notification.
You are scan and your International Passport or Drivers License, for Identification. and send back the via fax, and send a copy to my email address.
Upon reciept of the your chioce of payment option, a notification will be sent to you after proper verification and the final modalities on how you are to receive your prize will be sent to you, so you can proceed with your claims process.
You have been advise to keep your winning information to yourself. Congratulations once again unbehalf of our Staffs.
Regards, Mr. Hoods Williams Fiduiciary Agent.
WINNER PAYMENT OPTION.
WINNERS ARE BEEN ADVICE TO MARK ONE OF THE PAYMENT OPTION.
1. BANK SWIFT TRANSFER [ ]2. CASH PICK-UP [ ]
NOTE: THAT YOUR INFORMATION PROVIDED WILL NOT BE USE FOR ANY ILLEGAL ACT BY THE STAFF OF MSN LOTTERY AWARD PROMOTION, ONCE AGAIN YOU ARE BEEN ADVICE TO KEEP YOUR WINNING INFORMATION TO YOURSELF.

_______________________________________________
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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam