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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:
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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:
  • "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)
• 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.
  • rainbowlottery01@sify.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Kenneth Donovan" <kennethdonovan55@bigmir.net>
Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 22:30:24 +0000
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION


UK RAINBOW POSTCODE LOTERIJ-NL/PROMO
14 Princess Square,
Yorkshire, England
www.postcodeloterij.nl

Dear Winner,

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual
final
draws Online Promotions held in London England on the 25th of May, 2008.The
online cyber lotto draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 500,000
e-mail
addresses of individuals and corporate bodies selected by an advanced
automated
random computer search from the internet. The selected e-mail addresses were

attached to tickets numbers which were spun by our ballot machine. After
this
automated computer ballot, your e-mail address attached to ticket number:
7160043 emerged as one of the ten winners in the category "B" with the
following winning informations:

REFERENCE N0:KH067/0068183JK.
BATCH N0: KC/977/0617569601.
PRIZE NO: PR/CA08/54302.

You have been approved for a payment of £500,000.00(Five Hundred Thousand
GBP)
is advised to keep your winning information confidential until your claims
has
been processed and remitted to you. This is part of our security protocol to

avoid double claims and unwarranted abuse of this program. Your prize has
also
been insured with your winning e-mail address. Confirm this by:

CONTACT BELOW MENTIONED OFFICE ON E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR CLAIMS WITH DETAILS AS
FOLLOWS:

FULL NAME:
ADDRESS:
OCCUPATION:
AGE:
TEL/FAX:

Contact Person: Ed Morris.
Contact Email: rainbowlottery01@sify.com

Congratulations.

Yours faithfully,

Kenneth Donovan.
UK Rainbow Lottery Coordinator.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam