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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!
  
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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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "claims office" (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: Sun, 4 May 2008 16:30:14 +0100
Subject: INTERNET DRAW RESULTS (YOUR EMAIL WON)




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/2007 and Ticket Number: PP 3812 /2007-07 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
(Direct all future correspondence to your claims agent
immediately.To contact him by email replace `at4 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.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

1. Personal and winning data provided by winners to THIS PROMO
remains known ONLY to the winner and INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONAL
PROGRAMS ORGANISATION.

2a. All e-mail addresses, contact information, photographs
and/or personal data of winners SHALL NOT be published or
disclosed on ANY public or in any other public place or via any
medium accessible to the public.
2b. All e-mail addresses, contact information, photographs
and/or personal data of winners SHALL NOT be disclosed to or
made available to any third party or agent outside the claims
office.

3. All e-mail addresses, contact information and/or personal
data of winners are kept in an isolated database server
protected from any external access using SSL locking on 6th
level binary phrase. This data is made accessible ONLY to MARKT
INTERNATIONAL CYBER LOTTERY staff and authorized agents
directly involved with the processing of winners claims.

4. Winners are advised to keep their winning information away
from public knowledge, in order to avoid any double claims,
impersonation or misrepresentation during the claims process.
MARKT INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONAL PROGRAMS will not be liable for
any misplaced claims as a owing to your negligence or
publishing of your winning information.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam