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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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• 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:

• The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "microsoft mega jackpot lottery" (no such lottery exists)
• 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)
  • "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
• 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.
  • +447045735768 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "FROM MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT LOTTERY" <microsoft51@ldsliving.com>
Reply-To: microsoftemailaward20082008@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:43:54 -0700
Subject: FROM MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT LOTTERY


FROM MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT LOTTERY
MICROSOFT AWARD TEAM
Microsoft Corporation
MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT LOTTERY U.K.
REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/L
BATCH: 4583JL/WIN

MICROSOFT EMAIL LOTTERY AWARD PROMOTION: UNITED KINGDOM

Finally today, we announce the winners of the MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT LOTTO
WINNINGS PROGRAMS held early this month 2008. Your company or your personal
e-mail address, attached to winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100, with serial
number 647489, consequently won in the Tenth lottery category.

You have been approved for lump sums pay out of £850,000. British pound
sterling in cash Credited to file REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/L and winning number
23-76-06-54-42-100.Selection process was carried out through random
selection in our computerized email selection machine (TOPAZ) from a
database of over 1,000,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of
the world.

The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from
an exclusive list of 29,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate
bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the
internet. No ticket was sold but all email addresses were assigned to
different ticket numbers for representation and privacy. This is to
encourage our prominent Microsoft Internet Explorer users all over the
world, and for the Continues use of E-mail.

Your fund (Certified Cashiers Cheque) has been insured with your REF
NO:MSW/56B-672GH/L and winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100. To claim your
winning prize, you must first contact the claims department by email for
Processing and remittance of your prize to you.

You are to reply to this In order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, please remember to quote your reference and winning numbers
in all correspondences with your claims officer. You are to keep all lotto
information away from the general public especially your ticket number and
ballot number.(This is important as a case of double claims will not be
entertained)

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE TO SEND THE BELOW INFORMATION REQUIRED TO CLAIM
YOUR WINNING PRIZE:

1.Full Name:..............................................................
2.Address:.................................................................
3.Nationality:.............................................................
4.Age:.........................Sex....................Date of
Birth:..............................
5.Occupation:.............................................................
6 Company name, position and address
7. Are you a property owner?
8.Mobile Phone:...............Home Phone,Office Phone
...................Fax:.....no..................................
9.A scanned copy of Working I.d/Int'l passport.
10.State of Origin :......................Country:........................

Upon the receipt of this mail kindly send the required information and call
me immediately for more directives: Tel: 4470457 35768

Sincerely,

Dr.Andrew Georgetown
Online Co-ordinator
Tel: 44 70457 35768


LOTTERY SPONSOR

Microsoft Corporation U.K.

2008

You are advice to keep your Reference Number and your Batch Number out of
Public and also your Neighborhood. In order, to avoid double claim of your
prize award. Due to past experience from other winners.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam