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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "from: the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "million pounds" (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)
• 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: "Dr WILLIAM GERRI " <drwilliamsgerripro@klikni.cz>
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 14:15:18 +1100
Subject: ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD NOTIFICATION/FINAL NOTICE.

Bevan House
51 Bevan Avenue
London, United Kingdom
FROM: THE DESK OF THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT
REF: UNL/332210460037/08
BATCH: 77/00319/IPD

ATTENTION: Sir/Madam,

ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD NOTIFICATION/FINAL NOTICE

We happily announce to you the draw (#7783) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,
online Sweepstakes International program held TODAY. Your e-mail address
attached to ticket number: 023-0148-790-459 with Serial number 5073-44 drew
the lucky numbers: 01 07 25 31 32 39 bonus ball {71} which subsequently won
you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e match 6. You have therefore been
approved to claim a total sum of £1,000,000 (One Million Pound Sterling
Only) in cash credited to file REF NO. UNL/332210460037/08.

This is from a total cash prize of £5,000,000 shared amongst the second
five (5) lucky winners in this category. Draw 7783.

Jackpot £5,000,000.

NUMBER OF MATCHES No OF WINNERS £s PER WINNER TOTAL
Match 6 5 £1,107,042.80 £5,535,214
Match 5 plus bonus 7 £243,306 £1,703,142
Match 5 381 £2,793 £1,064,133
Match 4 26475 £88 £2,329,800
Match 3 561913 £10 £5,619,130

Additional Information Jackpot winner(s) 2 Machine used for draw MOONSTONE
Winners by Lucky Dip 216277 Ball set used 7. All participants for the online
version were selected randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer
draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations, and
corporate bodies that are listed online. This promotion takes place weekly.

Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European
booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in your play coupon. In
view of this, your £1,000,000 (One Million Pounds Sterling Only) would be
released to you by any of our payment offices in Europe.

Our European agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the
release of your funds as soon as you contact them. For security reasons, you
are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claim is
processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to
claim your prize.

This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and
unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned.

To file for your claim, please contact our European Paying Bank; PostBank
NL in The Netherlands through the

Director Operations/ ForexDepartment.
Email: forexdepartment@live.com
www.postbank .nl

Also provide him with the following details too:

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

For due processing and remittance of your prize money, please remember to
quote your reference and batch numbers in every one of your correspondences
with your agent. Remember, all prize money must be claimed not later than
3weeks. After this date, all funds will be returned as unclaimed.

Furthermore, should there be any change of your address, do inform your
claims agent as soon as possible.

Congratulations again from all our staff and thank you for being part of
our promotional lottery program.

Dr WILLIAM GERRI.

LOTTO CO-ORDINATOR.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam