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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:
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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:

• The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
• 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!

Fraud email example:

From: "BRITISH INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY. INC" <ukboard1@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 2 May 2007 16:32:10 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Re:Note; WINNING NOTIFICATION.



Dear Wiinner.
I don't know you before and if you want to know about how the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY BOARD discovered your email, you were selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses all over the World as part of our international promotions program.

Further more your details e-mail address falls within Europe your prize of 1 000 000 00 GBP and will be released to you here in the United Kingdom.
Thank you very much for your inquiry and we are congratulating you for being a lucky winner.
Have a wonderful day.

Yours Sincerely.
Mrs.Carol David.


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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam