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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:
  • "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!
• 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.
  • staats1loterij@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: keran@kerankeran.orangehome.co.uk
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:22:36 +0100 (CET)
Subject: CONGRATULATION


DE NEDERLANDSE STAATSLOTERIJ
PALEISSTRAT 5
2514 JA DEN HAAG
www.staatsloterij.nl
Dear Lucky Winner,
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual final draws of Staats Loterij Sponsering International Netherlands programs.
The online cyber lotto draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 62,000 e-mail addresses of individual and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet. No tickets were sold. After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail address emerged as one of ten winners in the category +A with the following:
Ref Number: PC 390 ES 215
Batch Number: 26371545-LNI/2006
Ticket Number: PCP 002 874
You as well as the other winners are therefore to receive a cash prize of 1,250,000.00.euro.(One Million,Two Hundred And Fifty Thousand Euro Only) each from the total payout.Your prize award has been insured with your e-mail address and will be transferred to you upon meeting our requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and satisfactory report.
To begin the claims processing of your prize winnings, you are advised
to contact our licensed and accredited claims agent for category +A winners with the information below:
E-mail: staats1loterij@aim.com
MR. JOE VANDERSA
Remittance Department Director,

You are also advised to provide him with the under listed information
as soon as possible:
1. Name in full
2. Address
3. Nationality
4. Age
5. Occupation
6. Phone/Fax
NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 30 days. After this
date all unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake. Remember to
quote your reference information in all correspondence.
You are to keep all lotto information away from the general public especially your reference and ticket numbers. (This is important as a case of double claims will not be entertained).
Thank you and congratulations!!!
Yours faithfully,
Mrs. Keran Poelman,
Games/Lottery Coordinator.
Lotto International Netherlands

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam