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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:
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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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:

• 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: MICROSOFT AWARD TEAM<mrdangriffith@claimsagentonline.org>
Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:53:12 +1200
Subject: Microsoft=?ISO-8859-1?B?rg==?= New Year Promotion(=?ISO-8859-1?B?ow==?= 1,000.000.00GBP)


****CONGRATULATION****

You are No(5)you won
(£1,000.000.00GBP)One Million Great
Britain Pounds MICROSOFT AWARD PROMO
Batch No: 452006/14/FIFA06/FL To claim your winnings you are expected
to contact your agent Mr Dan Griffith via email immediately within
24hrs
with the following details below.

1.Full name............................
2.Country..............................
3.Contact Address......................
4.Telephone Number.....................
5.Occupation...........................

Mr.Dan Griffith
Head Winning Claims Dept.
Email: mrdangriffith@claimsagentonline.org
Sincerely,
Mr.Dan Griffith
Microsoft Promotion Team
Head Customer care Service.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam