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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
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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • ",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.
  • +31647293493 (Netherlands, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: =?utf-8?q?Mega=20Euro=20NV?= <nv.megaeuro@yahoo.com.co>
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:33:59 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Your email address have won


¡Tengo nueva dirección de correo!Ahora puedes escribirme a:nv.megaeuro@yahoo.com.co



- Dear Winner,Your email address have won the 1st category winning prize of One million five hundred thousand euros in the MEGA EURO FREE EMAIL COMPUTER BALLOT.No purchase necessary.All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from over 50,000 companies and 2,000,000 individual email addresses from all over the world. Being one of the lucky winners,we hereby contact you to claim your win prize in this free email computer ballot promotion.Required informations:Name: ------------------------------------------------------------Nationality: -----------------------------------------------------Country of Residence: --------------------------------------------Occupation: ------------------------------------------------------Tel number: ------------------------------------------------------Email: -----------------------------------------------------------Send required informations above to your claims representative/agent below with your win authorization code: XCV/5127034/DWN. CONTACT:MEGA EURO NV.(Claims Agent)MR.SMIT GELDERSHOF Tel: 0031 64 729 3493 Fax: 0031 84 755 3231 Email: megaeuronvinfo@yahoo.com.Any leakage of this winning notification leading in a double claim will cause you to forfeit your prize thus we advise you to keep this winning notification message confidential away from public notice to prevent double claims and impersonation until after remittance/payment to you.Regards,Rita De Boer .(Co-ordinator)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam