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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "microsoft lottery" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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: 2008claims-lotto6@comcast.net
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 19:14:13 +0000
Subject: Votre adresse E-Mail EMERGED vainqueur en 2008 MICROSOFT PROMOTION


MICROSOFT LOTTERY BOARD
MICROSOFT YEAR 2008 PROMOTIONS held in ENGLAND . Your e-mail address
attached to ticket number P63PROMO with serial number 17-008, batch
number 076685, lottery ref number MSN/NEY2008 which subsequently won
you
the lottery i.e match 5 plus bonus.you have been approved for a lump
sum payout of £500,000[five hundred thousand pounds sterling).
To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent:
MR Ferdinand Raymond
Fiduciary Agent
E-Mail:prizeclaims2008@msn.com
You are required to fill out the information
NAMES:
ADDRESS:
OCCUPATION:
AGE:
CITY:
COUNTRY:
MOBILE NUMBER
REF NUMBER
Congratulations
MR. FRED HABRED
Co-ordinator

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam