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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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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "euroafriq lotto award" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned 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 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.
  • lottotreasury_dep210@yahoo.fr

Fraud email example:

From: samuelsodeh3@freenet.de
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:37:49 +0100
Subject: UNCLAIMED LOTTO PRIZE PAYMENT NOTICE.


LOTTO ORGANIZATION
Rue 153 Juan Hurtado De Mendoza Boulevard 6D,
Cotonou
28044, Republic du Benin.


UNCLAIMED LOTTO PRIZE PAYMENT
NOTICE.

ATTENTION TO THE OWNER OF THIS EMAIL ADDRESS;
Winner in the 2nd
category of our Euroafriq free Net
Lottery Promotional award draws held
December 2007.

I am writing in respect to your lotto winning prize
of
$1,915,810.00(One Million, Nine hundred and fifteen thousand
eight
hundred and ten US Dollars only) which you won through
the email
ballot draws in our Euroafriq Lotto Award in
2007 in the second category
prize winnings category.
We wish to inform you that your total prize
money of
$1,915,810.00 has been returned to us by our Lotto claims
Agent
as unclaimed prize after their initial letter to
your address for your
payment was not successful, We are
writing in regards to payment of your
Winnings to you.

You are here by requested to contact our
Treasury
Office on telephone (00229)93013428 or
email:
(lottotreasury_dep210@yahoo.fr) for your immediate
payment.Our Treasury
officer\'s name is David Morrison,
so refer this to him and contact him
immediately for
your unclaimed lotto prize payment to you.


You should
contact our Treasury Officer as directed
above for your payment, and do
notify me as soon as you
received your payment from our
Treasurer.


Thanks,
Mrs Vera Gonzales.
President; Int\'l Lotto
Org.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam