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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
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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:
  • "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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!

Fraud email example:

From: "Uk Online Games" <ukgaming@strompost.at>
Reply-To: ukonlinegames@rocketmail.com
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:34:56 -0530 (IST)
Subject: Serial number 9418/07

We happily announce to you the draw (#963) of the UK NATIONAL
LOTTERY,Online Sweepstakes International programme held on 1st of
August,2008 Your e-mail address has been selected randomly amongst twenty
others by a Computer Ballot System through a WORLD WIDE WEB SITE SEARCH
NGINE".Here is your ticket number:418 8354952 518 with Serial number
9418/07 that won you £516,778.00 Pounds
Claims Requirements:
1.Full Name: ..............................
2.Address:.................................
3.Nationality:.............................
4.Occupation:..............................
5.Age:.......... Date of Birth:............
6.Sex:.....................................
7.Phone...................Fax:.............
8.State of Origin:.........................
Mode of payment/Courier delivery
Claims Agent
Mr Peter Taylor
Email:claims_enquire@ymail.com
Yours Truly
Steven Burtler
-- Sent at 06:56:30 on 08/21/08 through NITK (http://www.nitk.ac.in/) Email Gateway . AV scanning & Spam checking are done on this mail --

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam