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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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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:
  • "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.
  • +31645535301 (Netherlands, prepaid mobile phone)
• 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.
  • claimsofficer101@netscape.net (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "don_newport@mail2world.com" <don_newport@mail2world.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 17:17:33 +0400
Subject: Email Award Notification

GOLDSTAR LOTTERY HEADQUARTERS
Lotto Winners of 1,500,000.00 Euros
Ref. Number: NL/BC7765468/WW14
Coupon Number: NM/896161/WOP

ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD WINNING NOTIFICATION

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

We are pleased to inform you of the announcement today of winners of the
GOLDSTAR LOTTERY POGRAMS held on 10th January 2007.Your Company or your
personal e-mail address is attached to winning number 20-01-2005-02MSW, with
serial number S/N-00168 drew the lucky numbers 887-13-865-37-10-83, and
consequently won in the first lottery category.

You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of One Million Five
Hundred Thousand EUROS (1,500,000.00) in cash credited to file REF NO:
NL/BC7765468/WW14 and Coupon NO.NM/896161/WOP

This is from total prize money of 10,687,000 EUROS, shared among the Twenty
international winners in this category.

All participants were selected through our Microsoft computer ballot system
drawn form 21,000 names, 3,000 names from each continent, as part of
International "E-MAIL" Promotions Program, which is conducted once in every
four years for our prominent MS WORD user all over the world, and for the
continues use of E-mail.

Your fund has been deposited in an escrow account with our affiliate Bank
here in NETHERLAND, and insured with your REF NO: NL/BC7765468/WW14 and your
E-mail address.

You are to keep your ref. number and coupon number from the public, until
you have been processed and your money remitted to your personal account. We
hope with your prize, you will be happy to promote the use of E-mail and the
use of MS WORD.

To claim your winning prize, you must first contact the claims department
by email or call for processing and remittance of your prize money to you.
Your assigned claims Director Contact is:

MR.Robert Heinz
PALEISSTRAAT 5
2514 JA DEN HAAG
THE NETHERLAND
TEL: +31-645-535-301
FAX: +31-847-262-754
Email: claimsofficer101@netscape.net

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please
remember to quote your reference and coupon numbers in all correspondences
with your claims director.

Sincerely,

Mrs.Mavis Cook
For GOLDSTAR LOTTERY HEADQUARTERS
NB: All response should be mail to De Award Department:
claimsofficer101@netscape.net

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam