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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
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• 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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "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)
  • ",000,000" (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)
  • ",500,000" (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)
  • "00,000.00" (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)
  • "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
• 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.
  • +31647283937 (Netherlands, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "International Prize Award Department" <budhrani@gibtelecom.net>
Reply-To: da_berman01@live.nl
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2008 03:21:17 +0100
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION FOR CATEGORY "A" WINNER ONLY



Attn Lucky Winner,

We are pleased to inform you that you have emerged a winner in
the annual draw of our Lottery International Programs. Your
email address was selected by our Electronic Random Selection
System (ERSS) from an exclusive list of 250,000,000 e-mail
addresses of individual and corporate bodies generated from an
internet resource database. No tickets were sold.

Your email address is identified with Batch Number: 444821545-
NL/2008 and Ticket Number: PP 3812 /2008-003 in Category "A"
and your claims portfolio is filed with Ref Number: MARKT 2310
TS 4512.You are therefore to receive a cash prize of
$2,500,000.00. (Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand United
States Dollars) from the total payout.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!.

Your prize award has been insured under a bonded depository
policy with your e-mail address, and will be transferred to you
upon meeting the claims requirements, statutory obligations,
verifications, validations and satisfactory report.

To file for the processing of your prize sum payment, you are
advised to contact our Certified and Accredited claims agent
for category "A" winners with the information below:

*************************************
Name: Mr. David Berman
Tel: +31 647 283 937
Email: da_berman01(at)live.nl
(Ensure to contact your claims agent immediately. To contact
by email, replace at with @)
*************************************


You are advice to provide him with the following information:

Names:
Telephone/Fax number:
Nationality:
Age:
Occupation:

NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 14 days,
thereafter unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake.
Remember to quote your reference information in all
correspondence.

Yours Faithfully,
Catherine Winn Hodge
Lottery Co-ordinator.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam