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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "cost of mailing your draft" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. )
  • "payment for the courier" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. )
  • "deadline" (they are rushing you so you don't have time to think properly)
  • "vat (5%)" (VAT rate in the UK is 17.5%, check the math)
  • "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
• 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.
  • address.elitecourier_77@yahoo.com

Fraud email example:

From: MR COLE HENRY BEN <claimsagentcole_7@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 16:47:19 +0100 (BST)
Subject: CHOOSE AND OPTION FOR DELIVERY



ELITE XPRESS COURIER DELIVERY SERVICE


REG ORDER NO:562725
Date:15 - 7- 2007


ATTENTION:Emma Bachzer ,

This is to inform you that you have been officially cleared for payment by the Verifications Dept. at the headquarters of the SWISS National Lottery. The original copy of this certificate from the British government stating that the money was obtained legally through their National Lotto will be sent to you and the bank as soon as you meet with any of the option selected and your winnings will be couriered or transferred to you immediately. You can now begin the final step of the claims process, which is the transferring of your cash prize to you. With regards to this, there are two options open to you, you are required to select the most convenient of the two.
The options, together with their associated conditions are presented below:

OPTION 1:
Courier of your winning draft to you via any of this channel listed below:


Elite Xpress delivery(2working days)
Mailing £20.00 00.00 Insurance £550.00 00.00 Vat (5%) £85.00 00.00 TOTAL £655.00 00.00


Elite Xpress delivery(24hrs same days)
Mailing £30.00 00.00 Insurance £650.00 00.00 Vat (5%) £88.75 00.00 TOTAL £768.75 00.00


Elite Xpress delivery(4working days)

Mailing £10.00 00.00 Insurance £450.00 00.00 Vat (5%) £80.75 00.00 TOTAL £540.75 00.00

The insurance company declined reverse payment for the courier, stating that it is against their professional policy towards ensuring the safe delivery of the draft to you. That if a reverse payment is made, and something goes wrong, that we/you cannot sue the courier company or insurance company to recover the full value of t he fund as stipulated in the draft since payment for insurance cover was not made at point of mailing.

With the above reason, reverse payment is ruled out.Forward the cost of mailing your draft with any of the courier channel cost you choose above to us.
OPTION2:
Condition: The cost of COT (commission of transfer) being charged by our transfering bank, which is (£ 2,000 GBP) of the cash being transferred will be paid by you(winner) which shall also be credited to your winning prize and it also refundable.

Note: That your prize is protected by a hardcover insurance policy by GEOTRUST INSURANCE COMPANY, which makes it impossible to deduct any amount from the money before it has been remitted to you. This means that the above charges cannot be deducted from the prize and hence must be provided by you first before your prize is transferred to you.

Please respond to this email by making a selection from the two options above.
Also attach a scanned copy of either your driver's licence, international passport (photo page) or any other legally identifying document.

Also be reminded that the deadline for the claiming of winnings is exactly two weeks after the receipt of this email. After this period, your cash prize will be deemed to have been forfeited by you and will be reused in the drawings of the next edition of the lottery.
Good luck and Congratulations once again. Please send your response within the next 24hrs to this same email address.elitecourier_77@yahoo.com

Best regards

Mr Smith MARK(dispatch officer)



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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam