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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:
  • "from: the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
• 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.
  • co-ordinator.wills@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: The National Lottery <presidentdesk16@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <presidentdesk@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:21:11 +0000
Subject: Notification




From: The Desk of The President
The National Lottery PO Box 1010 LiverpoolL70 1NL
AWARD NOTIFICATION (19 November, 2007)

REF N0: ZFN/22512567303/07BATCH NO: 86056490902/204 WINNING NO: ASUK/33/36/45/12/07/LWThe The National Lottery wishes to inform you of the results of the e-mail addresses ballot lottery programme held on 19th November, 2007. Your email account has been picked as a winner of the sum of NINE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS ONLY (US$900,000:00)

Your e-mail address is attached to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers : 09 18 23 33 38 which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category.

This promotion is sponsored by United Nations, National Lottery, Hotmail, Yahoo, corporate organizations and eminent personalities including the chairman Microsoft, Bill Gates, to create awareness of internet benefits and to help eradicate poverty worldwide. We hope with a part of your prize, you will help to achieve these objectives and educate others of the importance of internet use.

Remember you neither participated physically in this computer ballot draw nor did you buy any ticket for this draw, your email name is lucky to be among the selected in this category, therefore claiming of prizes is subject to clearance process before payment will be made to you. To avert information leakage, prizes are secured with (secret codes) your payment secret code will be sent to the co-ordinator, it is your duty to contact him now.

To begin your lottery claims, please contact our co-ordinator (Name: Dr. Steven Wills , Email: co-ordinator.wills@hotmail.com) with your information as stated below:

REF No:
BATCH No:
WINNING No:
TICKET No:
SERIAL No :
FULL NAME:
AGE:
JOB:
LOCATION:
TEL/FAX NUMBERS:
EMAIL ADDRESS:

Congratulations from the staff and thank you for being part of email account users for the programme.

Wilson Fred
President.
The National Lottery



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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam