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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:

• 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.
  • +447035923132 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "Uk Lottery committe" <uklottery0029@me.by>
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:11:36 -0700
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Your_e-mail_address_has_won_you_=A32,367,834.00?=


Your e-mail address has won you £2,367,834.00
UK LOTTERY ORGANIZATION
TICKET FREE/ONLINE E-MAIL ADDRESS WINNINGS DEPARTMENT.

If you are the correct owner of this email address then be glad this day as
the result of the UK lotto online e-mail address draws of 21st June 2008
held this time in Dubai - United Arab Emirates has just been released and we
are glad to announce to you that your email address won you the sweepstakes
in the first category and you are entitled to claim the sum of £2,367,834.00
(Two million, three hundred and sixty seven thousand, eight hundred and
thirty four British Pounds sterling).

Your email address was entered for the online draw on this Ticket Number:
APP23656675471 and won on this Lucky Number: MX014926583. You are to contact
Mr. Allen Smith. With the below email address for the delivery of your
winnings fund. Note that Mr. Allen Smith . might fail to recognize you as
the true winner and receiver of the £2,367,834.00 if you fail to include the
following in your contact mail to him:

Your country of origin and country of residence/work, complete official
names, address, amount won, free ticket and lucky numbers, date of draw,
contact telephone and mobile numbers. OPTIONAL :- [Sex, age,international
passport or driver's license, occupation and job title] for his verification
and confirmation that he is dealing with the right person.

Mr. Allen Smith
mr.alensmith@yahoo.com.co
Tel:+44703 5923 132

From:Online Winning Notification Department,
UK LOTTERY ORGANIZATION.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam