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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 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:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "overseas claims unit" (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!
• 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.
  • +447045741949 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • agentwild01@consultant.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
  • 3aagentwild01@consultant.com

Fraud email example:

From: "info-mail64 Gazeta.pl" <info-mail64@gazeta.pl>
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:39:00 +0530
Subject: Award Notification


THE NATIONAL LOTTERY
P.O.BOX 1010
LIVERPOOL,
L70 1NL UNITED KINGDOM
17TH JUNE 2008(ANNOUNCEMENT DATE)
REF:UK/9420X2/68,
BATCH:074/05/ZY369

Dear Lucky Winner,

We happily announce to you the draw
(#8976) of the UK NATIONAL
LOTTERY, 2008 awards Sweepstakes
International program held
at Covent Garden London.

Your e-mail address attached to ticket
number: 1475600545 9643 with
Serial number 5368/07 drew the lucky
numbers: 01 . 08 . 12 . 24 . 67 .
76 Winning Numbers Bonus Ball [55] which
subsequently won you the
lottery in the 1st categories of the 2008
bonanza i.e match 4 plus
bonus.

You have therefore been approved to claim a
total lump sum of
1,000,000GBP (One Million Pounds Sterling)
in cash credited to file
GKH/0011118308/08.

This is from a total cash prize of
20,000,000GBP shared amongst the
first twenty (20) lucky winners in this
series year category(May/June 2008)
i.e Match 4 plus bonus. All participants
for the online version were
selected randomly from World Wide Web sites
through computer draw
system and extracted from over100,000
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 1,000,000GBP
(One Million Pounds
Sterlings) 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 yourfunds as soon as you contact
him. Your claims will be
processed and 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 fill
the form given below and contact our claims
agent whose details are
given below;

FILL THE FORM BELOW

Name___________________________________
Age_____________________________________
Sex_____________________________________
Marital Status_____________________________
Tel/Fax___________________________________
Address___________________________________
Occupation__________________________________
_

NB: FILL AND RETURN THE FORM TO THE
CONTACTS BELOW;

Overseas Claims Unit
United Kingdom Lottery Fiduciary
Mr.Pepsi Wild
Email Address:agentwild01@consultant.com<Address%3Aagentwild01@consultant.com>
Tel:+44 704 574 1949

You may wish to establish contact via e-mail with the particulars
presented above citing the
batch and reference numbers to this letter.
Be further advised to maintain STRICT CONFIDENTIALITY
until the end of proceedings to circumvent problems associated
with fraudulent claims/double claims. This is part of our precautionary
measure to
avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this programme.

Accept my congratulations.
James Sylvester
(Online Coordinator).

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam