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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
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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:
  • "money laundering" ("anti-terrorist", "anti-money laundering" or "drug-free" certificates are a common way for criminals in fake lottery scams and other Advance Fee scams to get you to send money to them. There are no such certificates in the real banking world. )
  • "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)
  • "affidavit " (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
  • "courier service" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
  • "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!

Fraud email example:

From: FIVE WAYS COURIER LTD <five_ways_courier_ltd@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:34:34 +0100 (BST)
Subject: CHOOSE YOUR COURIER/DELIVERY OPTION.



FIVE WAYS COURIER SERVICES LIMITED



AUGUST 21 ,2007
Reg order No:B231282
ATTENTION:Inglebert Kauf.


Five Ways Courier Express is a well-established company offering courier and transport services 24 hour a day for priority delivery of letters, parcels and consignments to any destination by road, air or sea. We have a substantial team of couriers available for motorcycle dispatch plus van driver couriers in all size vehicles from small vans up to 7.5 tonne and international couriers for dispatch by road, sea or air.

We have extensive UK, European and World connections.
This E-mail sent to you is to inform you that the Verifications Dept. at the headquarters of the UK Swiss Lottery International has officially cleared you for payment.

The original copy of this certificate, together with a covering document (Money Laundering protection and Letter of Affidavit for Claims) 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 more 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:
FedEx
Mailing...............................£100.00 Insurance.............................£300.00
Vat (5%)..............................£040.75
TOTAL.................................£440.75
UPS
Mailing...............................£100.00
Insurance.............................£300.00
Vat (5%)..............................£030.95
TOTAL.................................£430.95
POST OFFICE MAIL
Mailing; .............................£100.00
Insurance.............................£220.00
Vat (5%)..............................£020.00
TOTAL.................................£340.00
SAMEDAY BY AIR
Flight; ..............................£400.00
Insurance.............................£300.00
Vat (5%)..............................£050.00
TOTAL.................................£750.00

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 the 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.

Option 2:
The said amount claim £1,500,000.00 (One million Five Hundred Thousand Euro) will be wired to your bank account via swift bank transfer.

Condition: The cost of COT (commission of transfer) being charged by our transferring bank(i.e. £1,500) of the cash being transferred will be paid by you.
Note that your prize is protected by a hardcover insurance policy, 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 before your prize is transferred to you.
Please respond to this email by making a selection from the two options above.

Also we have received your scanned information sent for verification which is an appropriate information required.
Be reminded that the deadline for the claiming of winnings is exactly two weeks after the receive 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.

Mr.Brian Howell
Management
Five Ways Courier Express Ltd
Open 7days-24hrs-365days a year.


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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam