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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
  (+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:

• 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:
  • "from the desk of" (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.
  • +31619317468 (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.
  • lucasrutger902101@yahoo.es (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Winner" <gregoryduff04@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 22:08:23 +1000
Subject: Confirmation of your jackpot.!

>From The Desk Of The Director Of Surf Lottery Organization

Dear Internet User,

YOUR WINNING NOTIFICATION FOR USING THE INTERNET.

I am pleased to inform you that one of the best things that can happen to
any Internet user is to be rewarded for spending money and time on the
Internet. You may not have known that over one hundred billion people daily
surf the Internet on a regular basis for one reason or other. These Internet
users including yourself, pay access fees to various Internet Service
Providers (ISP) all over the word who in turn remit surplus funds to the
numerous World Wide Internet Technology Companies (WWITC) for the
development and advancement of Global Information Technology.

So much money is generated from people like you all over the World for
using the Information Superhighway (the Internet) without your being aware
the enormous sum that go to the stake holders (WWITC). Without your
patronage, this would not have been possible. After we conducted a research
on the issue, we concluded that Internet users should be compensated. As a
result, we embarked on a worldwide lottery promotion with a sophisticated
automated database to randomly select E-mail accounts that frequently surf
the Internet. Consequent upon this, your E-mail address was picked for
Category "B" Winners.

After the automated computer ballot, your E-mail address emerged as a
winner in the category "B" with the following numbers attached Ref Number:
EL-9318 ,Batch Number: EL-9501 , Ticket number :EL-01135 and Serial number:
EL-122692

You and other category "B" winners are therefore to receive a cash prize of
Three Million Eight Hundred And Fifty Thousand United States Dollars
($3,850,000.00) respectively from the total payout of One Billion US Dollars
earmarked in the lottery for category "B" winners. Your prize award has been
insured with your E-mail address, which qualified you for the lottery and
will be transferred to you upon meeting our requirements, statutory
obligations, verifications, validations and satisfactory proof of E-mail
address ownership.

To file in for the processing of your money, you are advised to contact our
certified lottery director for category "B" winners with the information
below:

Contact Person:
Mr: Lucas Rutger
Lottery Director
Surf Lottery Organization
21 Nin Namaral Straatweg 5009 GL.GTI 1815ga
Amsterdam,Netherlands
Tel:+31-619-317-468
Fax:+31-847-385-280
Web: www.lotto.nl
Email: lucasrutger902101@yahoo.es

You will provide him with the following information:

First name:
Last Name:
Telephone/Fax number:
Nationality:
Age:
Occupation:

NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 21 days, thereafter
unclaimed funds would be forfeited after a trio repeated forwarding of this
message to you without your response. Remember to quote your reference
information in all correspondence. (Ref Number: EL-9318 ,Batch Number:
EL-9501 , Ticket number :EL-01135 and Serial number: EL-122692),

You are to keep all lotto information confidential, especially your
reference numbers and the password of your E-mail address. Since we do not
know you, if an impostor hacks your E-mail account ID and claims your money
without our knowledge, we shall not be liable. Double claims will not be
entertained so be careful. Furthermore, should there be any change of
address do inform our agent as soon as possible.

Congratulations ! Thank you for being a user of the World Wide Web.

Yours Faithfully,
Mr.Tony
Lottory Co-ordinator
Lotto Internationation Nl.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam