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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:

• 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.
  • +27731471363 (South Africa, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: South Africa Lottery Board <southafrica.lotteryboard@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 02:15:36 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Urgent and Important.


Republic of South Africa
Lottery Claims Department.
4th Floor Fidelity House Bryans ton
Johannesburg 2000, South Africa.
Date: 17th May 2007

Dear Mr Altmann Klien,

This is to acknowledge the receipt of your mail; Firstly you received the notification of winning due to a computer balloting sample carried out on research of internet users and a promotion ushering in a new package of software.

This is a give away promotion whereby e-mail users worldwide gets an equal opportunity of winning because email samples from all users worldwide are carried out and a computing system selects at random which your email address has won you the lottery in the 2nd category and you have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £750,000.00 (Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand British Pounds) .

This is not like the everyday lottery you buy a ticket, it’s a give away promotion done on behalf of South Africa 2010 World Cup. The said sum is now deposited in our suspense account in your favor waiting for the immediate remittance to you by the payment bank, be informed that your winning prize has a hard cover insurance bond that makes it difficult to deduct a cent until the sum is finally credited to your designated account.

In view of the above you are advised to contact this office for further instruction and subsequent release of your fund. So you are advised to provide us with the below information accordingly as we are instructed to enable us process your winning certificate and also provide your account information where you want your won fund to be transferred into.

===========================================================================
APPLICATION FOR PRIZE CLAIM FORM - E (Receipt Official Notification Letter)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[FULL NAME OF WINNER]....................................................
[RESIDENT ADDRESS]...........................................................
[STATE].......................................................................................
[COUNTRY/ REGION].............................................................
[DATE OF BIRTH]........../........./............ [SEX].......................
[OCCUPATION]........................................................................
[TEL/FAX]...................................................................................
[ACCOUNT DETAILS].............................................................
===========================================================================
[TICKET NUMBER]..................................................................
[SERIAL NUMBER]..................................................................
[LUCKY NUMBER]...................................................................
[FILE NUMBER].........................................................................
===========================================================================

CLAIMANT SIGNATORY DECLARATION.



I..................................... Declare as one of the lottery prize winner that all information I have provided for my winning claims are true and correct information of myself. I agree with the International Lottery policy and regulation in line with my lottery claims.

===========================================================================

Thanks and Congratulations once again from all our staff.

Best Regards,

Mr. Martin Thabo
+27 73 147 1363
(Claims Agent).


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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam