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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "greater london" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
• 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.
  • +447031837454 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: ACE FINANCE LIMITED <agentnorlan@acefinance-uk.com>
Date: Tue, 8 May 2007 21:43:21 +0000
Subject: DETAILS RECEIVED



Reference: Winner, I hereby congratulate you on behalf of my colleagues for being part of our lottery program
.You are indeed lucky because your email address was among the email accounts extracted for
this program. Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep your winning
information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money remitted to
you.
This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of
this program by some participants.

Meanwhile,to clarify your doubts on how come you were selected and frequently questions
that you may likely ask(HOW DID I ENTER THIS CONTEST???HOW DID YOU GET MY EMAIL
ADDRESS???HOW DID I WIN???).

All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer draw
system and extracted from over 100,000 companies all over the world. This is to acknowledge the receipt of your details. Your claim is being verified in the
Verifications Department. Once this is done, a confirmation of payment approval will come
from the headquarters of the United Kingdom Lottery, Winning Certificate will be prepared
and sent to you along with instructions on how to proceed, this confirmation will be
approved within 24 hrs. Congratulations and have a wonderful day. Acknowledge the receipt of this e-mail by
replying to my email. Feel free to call me on ,+44-703-183-7454 for any further
Clarifications time to reach me GMT. Warm Regards,NORLAN DAVIESFOREIGN DEPARTMENT MANAGER ACE FINANCE LIMITED UK GREATER LONDON E113AA LONDON Tel:+44-703-183-7454.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam