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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!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• 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:

• 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:
  • "million united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
• 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 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.
  • claimfiles002@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: mmsft@ft07.orangehome.co.uk
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 17:26:28 +0100 (CET)
Subject: MICROSOFT NEW YEAR EMAIL AWARD!!!


MICROSOFT NEW YEAR EMAIL AWARD!!!
To claim your prize money Reply to: micropromo001@aol.co.uk

Ref. Number: 132/756/40027
Batch Number: 538901527-BC722

Dear lucky winner,
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Our Global Email Lottery program held today 4th January, 2007.
No tickets were sold and your e-mail address won in the 1st category. You have therefore been approved for the sum of $ 1,000, 000.00 USD (One Million United States Dollars).
All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from over 20,000 company and 30,000,000 individual email addresses from across the Globe as part of our International Promotions Program.
To file for your claim, please contact our claims office:
=====================================
DR. ROY HANS (MICROSOFT CLAIMS OFFICE)
32 Palmstraat, Amsterdam-Netherlands.
Tel: (31) 644-789-007
FAX. (31) 847-506-277
E-Mail: micropromo001@aol.co.uk
claimfiles002@aim.com
=====================================
Note: For easy reference and identification, Remember your reference and Batch numbers in every one of your correspondence with our claims office, also indicate your country and city.

Sincerely yours,
Mrs. Susan Smith
Lottery Coordinator.

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This e-mail is confidential and privileged. Please do not copy, disclose or distribute information in this e-mail: to do so is strictly prohibited and may lead to disqualification. If you are under the age of 16 kindly inform our claim office that this message has gone astray before deleting it. Thank you for your co-operation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Call the number above for further information.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam