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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:

• 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)
  • "claims director" (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.
  • +447011136306 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • sirmicheal_worldhealth@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "sir micheal wool" (may be fake)
Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 01:00:49 +0100 (MET)
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION!!!


W.H.O FINANCIAL GRANTS PROMOTIONS INTERNATIONAL GRANTS ALLOCATION UNIT(IGAU)WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION12 Whitehall, London SW1A 2DY FROM: THE DESK OF THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS / PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT,
REF: WHOFGP/2551256003/03
BATCH: 14/0017/IPD ATTENTION: FINANCIAL GRANTS/PRIZE AWARD NOTIFICATION Dear Sir/Madam, We happily announce to you the draw (#1 ) of the W.H.O FINANCIAL GRANTS PROMOTION programes held on 1st of September, 2006. Your email address, attached to ticket number 025-1146-1992-750, with serial number 2113-05 drew the lucky numbers 13-15-22-37-39-43, and consequently won the lottery in the 3rd category. You have therefore been approved for a charity bonus of Five Hundred thousand Pounds i.e (£500,000.00) in cash credited to file REF NO. WHOFGP2551256/06. This is from total prize money of US$20,400,000.00 shared among the seventeen international winners in this category. CONGRATULATIONS! Please note that the W.H.O FINANCIAL GRANTS PROMOTIONS WAS DUELY SPONSORED BY THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION as a result of the FINANCIAL GRANTS DECREE WHICH WAS PASSED TO AID VICTIMS OF THE 2005-2006 OUTBREAKS OF THE AVIAN INFLUENZA. This promotionis to take place yearly for a period of five years. In view of this, your Five hundred thousand pounds sterlings (£500,000.00) would be released to you by any of our payment offices in Europe. Our claims director will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him or her. For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned. To file for your claims, please contact our claims director: SIR MICHEAL WOOLCLAIMS DIRECTOR
WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION
12 Whitehall, London
SW1A 2DYEmail: sirmicheal_worldhealth@yahoo.com TEL: +4470-1113-6306 +4470-1113-8175
WINNERS ARE REQUESTED TO FILL AND SEND THE FOLLOWING INFORMATIONS TO THE CLAIMS OFFICER: *FULL NAMES*
*CONTACT ADDRESS*
*TELEPHONE NUMBER/FAX NUMBER**AGE*
*OCCUPATION**NATIONALITY* *TICKET NUMBER**BATCH NUMBER*
*REFERENCE NUMBER*
*SERIAL NUMBER* For processing and remittance of your cash to a designated account of your choice. remember,all winnings must be claim not later than October 2006, After this date,All unclaims funds will be returned to the WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION, you should contact your claims director about the claimant procedures, send your fax and telephone to your claims directors, this will enable his office to send the claims application form (A4)to you the Beneficiary. Please note,in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications please remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers all correspondence. Furthermore,should there be any change of address do inform theyour claims director. Congratulations once again, from all members of staff and thank you for being part of our promotions program. CONGRATULATIONS!!! Sincerely,
Sophia Halendale
Promotions Manager
INTERNATIONAL GRANTS ALLOCATION UNIT(IGAU)
WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION
12 Whitehall, London SW1A 2DY.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam