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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "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 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.
  • mrcletuscarl6@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "mr cletus carl" <mrcletuscarl@klikni.cz>
Reply-To: mrcletuscarl6@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 07:48:18 -0800
Subject: CONGRATULATION'S ON YOUR ($500,000) WINNINGS!!!


SHELL LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL.
UN-CLAIMED DEPARTMENT.
CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER.
WORLD LOTTERY.
Ref: SHL/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369.
Date: 24 MAY, 2008.

AWARD NOTIFICATION FINAL NOTICE.

ATTENTION: LUCKY WINNERS

I am Mr Cletus Carl, the prize director representing the Shell International
Lottery Corporation's Un-Claimed Department. On January 4th, 2008 at
approximately 3:45pm, I tried contacting you, but unfortunately was unable
to get a hold of you. The main reason for electronically mailing you this
letter is to inform you of the reason for my call. Every year we receive
over 5,000 entry forms from different lottery players from around the world.
Precisely speaking, I was just looking at our network to find out that you
were selected as a prize winner on January 4th, 2008 and you havn't claimed
your winnings, for the sum of US US$500,000 .

So I am mailing in regards to know why you have not made any effort to claim
your money. You have $500,000 sitting here, waiting for you. I dont know why
somebody will wait that long to claim their money.

You are advice to send the below information to me to enable me instruct you
on how to receive your claim.

NAME: MR CLETUS CARL

E-MAIL: mrcletuscarl6@yahoo.co.uk

INFORMATIONS FOR PROCESSING AND DELIVERY LOTTERY CLAIM

1. Full
names...................................................................................................................
2. Contact
address..........................................................................................................
3. Telephone
number.......................................................................................................
4. Fax
............................................................................................................................
5.Sex
...........................................................................................................................
6.
Occupation.................................................................................................................
7. Date of
birth................................................................................................

These information will be needed in preparing all the vital documents that
will cover the processing and final release of your price money to you.

Note: that as soon as all these informations are received, your prize will
be processed accordingly.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Cletus Carl

Online coordinator for THE INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program.

CONGRATULATIONS ONCE AGAIN.

BEST REGARDS

MR CLETUS CARL

---------------------shell lottery 2008
incorporation------------------------

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam