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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:
  • "microsoft lottery" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "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.
  • eventmanager_claimsdept@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Alya Ahmed Khalifa Masoud Shaikhan Al Hannaee (H00019943) "
<h00019943@hct.ac.ae>
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:52:12 +0400
Subject:


MICROSOFT LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE.
WINNING NOTIFICATION

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Five Hundred
Thousand Great Britain Pound Sterlings(£500,000.00) for the month of
July 2008 Lottery promotion which is organized by MICROSOFT LOTTERY
INC & WINDOWS LIVE.

MICROSOFT WINDOWS collects all the email addresses of people that
are active online, among the millions that subscribed to INTERNET we
only select five people every Month as our winners through electronic
balloting System without the winner applying,we congratulate you for
being one of the people selected.

Contact him, please provide him with your batch number BATCH:
YM09102XM and your reference number REF NO: YM35447XM
Claims Requirements:


1.Name in full----------- 2.Address---------------------------
3.Nationality------------- 4.Age--------------------------------
5.Sex --------------------- 6.Occupation------------------------
7.Phone/Fax-------------- 8.Present Country--------------------

(CONTACT EVENT MANAGER).
Claims Agent: Mr Morris Cole
Contact Email:eventmanager_claimsdept@yahoo.com.hk

Your Sincerely
Mrs. Lane Watts.
Copyright © 2008 Microsoft Award Promo. All Rights Reserved.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam