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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
  
  
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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:
  • "yahoo lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "greater london" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "to your nominated bank account" (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)
  • "transfer of your funds" (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.
  • +447031973680 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • jiangjj44@yahoo.com.cn (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs. Elizabeth Dickson." <msl_thomasolerry@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:57:38 +0800
Subject: Ref:MSN-L/200-26937(contact Mr.Thomas Olerry ,Email:msl_thomasolerry@hotmail.com)

Msl Award Team
Baley House, Har Road
Sutton, Greater London
SM1 4te United Kingdom.
Batch: 12/25/0340
Ref:MSN-L/200-26937

Hello Winners

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of
FIVE HUNDRED
THOUSAND POUNDS (£500,000) for the New Year Edition
Lottery promotion
which is organized by YAHOO LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE.YAHOO
& MICROSOFT
WINDOWS, collects all the email addresses of the people that
are active
online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and
Hotmail 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.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM

You are to contact your Claims Agent with immediate effect
to faciliate
the protocol of your winning prized before the date of
Claim,Winners Shall
be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre Prize
must be claimed
not later than 14 working days from date of Draw
Notification after the
Draw date in which Prize has won. Any prize not claimed
within this period
will be forfeited.These are your identification numbers:

Batch number...................12/25/0340
Reff number.......................MSN-L/200-26937
Winning number...................YM09788

To begin your claim please contact our licensed and
accredited agent
assigned to you

Mr. Thomas Olerry
(VERIFICATION DEPARTMENT MANAGER)
Tel: +447031973680
You are therefore advised to send the following information
to the claims
agent to facilitate them and in order for them to have
access in
proceeding with the transfer of your funds to your nominated
bank account.

1. Full name............
2. Country..............
3. Contact Address........
4. Telephone Number.......
5. Marital Status.........
6. Occupation.............
7. Company..............
8. Age....................

Msn Lottery Prize must be claimed not later than 14 working
days from date
of Draw Notification after the Draw date in which Prize has
won. Any prize
not claimed within this period will be forfeited.

Congratulations!! once again.
Yours in service,

This email is sent by \"Microsoft Secured Mail Servers\"
7.12
Notification.© 2008 Microsoft International Lottery
Programs.

All Rights Reserved.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Elizabeth Dickson.
Oxford Sweepstakes Co-ordinator.

(Operation Manager


Dear Friend,

I am Mr Jiang Jianmin, Principal Assurance Manager for the
China Trust Commercial Bank in China.I have a secured
business proposal and i need your assistance to execute this
business.please contact me on the email address below if
intrested so i can send you more details of this
transaction.

EMAIL:jiangjj44@yahoo.com.cn
Thank you for your time and i look forward to working with
you.

Sincerely,

Mr Jiang Jianmin

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam