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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
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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:
  • "fudiciary" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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.
  • +447024094784 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • email2us_verificationdept4@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Universal Mail <common@netcabo.pt>
Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2007 12:26:35 +0100
Subject: (spam) 2007 IRISH WINNER




The National Lottery

EURO MILLIONS PROMO/PRIZE DEPARTMENT

Batch: 074/07/ZY569

Dear Winner,

My Name is MARK LAMBERT, I am the Co-Ordinator of the Irish
National Online Sweepstakes and We are please to announce to you today
of the draw held on friday the 9th of June 2007. The draws was made
electronically and email address was drawn from over 100 Country
around the world.

Your email address which was attached to ticket number: 56475600545188
made you a winner and you have been approved to claim the sum of One
Million,Three Hundred and Fifty thousand euro. In view of this, your
winnings will be release to you by our European Fudiciary Agent. To
file for your claims you are to contact the email address below
for further informations.

AGENT: DR. CHESTER SMITH
Email: email2us_verificationdept4@yahoo.co.uk
Tel:+44 702 409 4784

Contgratulations once more;
Note: Keep your winnings confidential, so as not to warrant double
claims.

Yours Truly,
DR. CHESTER SMITH
Co-ordinator(Online Promo Programme).

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam