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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "microsoft lottery"
• 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!
• 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.
  • +447040184222 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: scott geldof <claimsofficer@apowerball.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 10:53:25 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Claims/Funds Release Form


From;MR Scott Geldof
claimsofficer@apowerball.com
CLAIMS DEPT. MANAGER,
Tell:+(44)7011138350.
Fax:+448704785243

Dear Winner,

Good-day to you,I am Mr.Scott Geldof your claims officer I am to guide you through the entire process of claiming your funds till it gets to you safe and intact with all legal backing document.I will perform my duty to you with the best of my knowledge as a professional in my field of study.

Be informed that Powerball Lottery,MSW does not and we will never involve ourselves in any form of scam.We do not accept defamatory words from our winners else you would be disqualified,we are only promoting the use Microsoft Word and encouraging it users all over the world.For further questions or any enquiries please call this office for proper
directive and information.

Before we can start the processing and documentation of your winning check and all other document to you,you will have to fill your claims form correctly and send it back to this office via e-mail for quick reference and appropriate modalities for a proper verification so as to enable us provide you with details and document of your prize.As you already know your e-mail address was picked in the MSW lucky dip Lotto programme, this is in view with the aim of promoting the use of MSW and e-mail as one major communication system.

Here is the claims form you will have to fill:

FULL LEGAL NAMES:
COMPLETE MAILING ADDRESS:
COUNTRY OF
RESIDENCE:
AGE:
SEX:
MARITAL STATUS
OCCUPATION:
TEL:
FAX:

SPONSORS:
MICROSOFT CO-OPERATIONS UK, MICROSOFT CO-OPERATIONS ASIA, MICROSOFT
CO-OPERATIONS USA, Lloyd's BANK UK,CITIPAKCOURIR AND PORTLAND COURIER.

Congratulations Once again we are happy to have you as our winner for this years programme.

Best Regards,

Mr Scott Geldof.
CLAIMS DEPT. MANAGER,(FIDUCIARY AGENT),
FOREIGN VERIFICATION DEPARTMENT,
MICROSOFT LOTTERY AWARD ,UK.
Fax:+448704791763
Tel.:+447040184222.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam