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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:

• The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "national lottery promotion" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary 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 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.
  • +447045798647 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
  • +448709743683 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "Linda Prewett" <lprewett@etbu.edu>
Reply-To: zonalareaoffice109@info.lt
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:22:19 -0500
Subject: INFORMATION FROM UNITED KINGDOM!!!


NATIONAL LOTTERY
PROMOTIONS/ PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT.
101 BOVILL ROAD
LONDON. SE23 1EL.

Ref: EGS/2251256003/02
Batch: 14/0017/1PD

WINNING NOTIFICATION
The board of directors and entire member of staff of the National Lottery wishes to inform you of the result of the (Email Address Ballot) online Sweepstakes international program held at the British Headquarter.

Your email account have been picked as a winner of Six Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling (£600,000.00) in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/03. This is from a total sum of Four Million, Two hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling (£ 4,200,000.00) shared amongst seven winners. This results is now released to you on 23rd July 2008 and your email address attached to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers 15-17-33-35-39-40 and bonus ball --49-- in the Lotto, to check your results online click on this link http://lottery.co.uk/res/ participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from Microsoft users from company and individual email address users.

Your fund has been converted into a bank draft with a hardcover insurance. Due to the mix up of some numbers and names, we advice that you keep this award from public notice until your claim has been processed and your bank draft sent directly to your designated delivery address as this is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unwarranted taking advantage of this program by the general public.
**************************************************
Contact Agent: Mr. Anderson Spencer
Foreign Services Directorate,
Pacifico Sistemas Informáticos GmbH & Co.
E-mail: zonalareaoffice109@info.lt
Phone: +44 704 579 8647,
+44 704 579 8638
Fax: +44-870 974 3683
**************************************************
You will be required to quote your lucky number,for confirmation on your winnings. All winning must be claimed not later than 3weeks after reciept of this mail. After this date all unclaimed funds will be returned to European Union Treasury as unclaimed prize for good cause. Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications please remember to quote your reference number in all correspondence.You are therefore advised to give the following informations to your assigned fiduciary Agent via email: zonalareaoffice109@info.lt or telephone .

1.Full name and address.
2.Country.
3.Tel and fax number.
4.Occupation.
5.Languages Spoken.
6.Religion.
7.Any Identification.

Congratulations from the entire member of staff and thank you for being part of our email account users program.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs. Julie Van Hans,
Executive (International Sweepstakes).

Program Warning!!! Fraudulent emails are circulating that appears to be impersonator using our names and addresses, but are not from the NATIONAL LOTTERY ONLINE PROGRAM PLEASE REPORT IMMEDIATELY TO CUSTOMER CARE/COMPLAINTS DEPT.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Material Copyright © 2008 The Lottery Co. Ltd.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam