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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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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:
  • "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • ",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)
  • "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!

Fraud email example:

From: "Gonzalez, Teresa" <T.Gonzalez@tcu.edu>
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:24:06 -0500
Subject: E-mail On-Line Winner, Contact for Your claims!!!



UK NATIONAL LOTTERY BOARD,
LOTTO Headquarters:
Customer Service
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

WINNING NOTIFICATION:
We wish to congratulate you over your email success in our
computer balloting Games held on Month of June 2008.
This is a Millennium Scientific Computer Draw in which your email
addresses were Selected Among The Four (4) Online Winners of The
Uk National Lottery programme,To encourage internet users,
You do Not have to buy ticket before you are selected as Winner,
You have won the sum of (£1,000,000.00) One Million Great British
Pounds Sterlling Out of four selected winner weekly in cash credited.
to file Ref
No,UK/9420X2/68 ;Batch No 074/05/ZY369; pin no 0147uk .......To claim
your winning
Contact Our Fiduciary Claims Office:
Email: fiduciaryclaimsunituk_2008@live.com
Name: Mr Robert smirt
With the details below, to file out your claims.
1. Name: 2. Address 3. Age: 4. Sex: 5. Phone: 6. Country. 7.Ref
No,UK/9420X2/68. 8.pin no,
Gonzalez Teresa (Mrs)
On-Line Co-ordinator
uk National Lottery board

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam