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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
  (+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:
  • "international lottery programme" (no such lottery exists)
• 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.
  • +447022402795 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
  • +2348067251152 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)
• 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.
  • microsoftnigeria@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: MICROSOFT <microloto@aol.tw>
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:27:37 -0400
Subject: YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HAS WON (( FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ))

THE MICROSOFT INTERNATIONAL
PROMOTIONS AWARD DEPARTMENT
LONDON OFFICE UNITED KINGDOM.
TELEPHONE NUMBER +4470224027958

Dear winner,

The Microsoft cooperation management worldwide are pleased to inform
you that you are a winner of our annual M-world lottery programme
conducted in AFRICA being the host of the event for this present year
mega jackpot lottery winning Award programme held on March 2008 after
HIV/AIDS AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMME in Africa.
We are delighted to inform you of your prize release from Microsoft
International Lottery programme, which is fully based on electronic
selection of e-mail addresses. Your e-mail address was attached to
those Winning Numbers:

(1) Winning number:..............990-11 -815-37-10-83
(2) Email ticket No................ ....901-0148-790-691
(3) Lotto Batch No.......................13 /FF P/LDL/037
(4) File REF No......................... .MELI-T/17-F044262312
(5) SECURITY CODE: ..............901-0148-790-691

You are number 5 that won the lottery and you have been approved a sum
of US$500,000. 00 (( FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS )). All participant
were selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine
hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada, Australia, United
States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania, as part of our
international promotion program which is conducted annually all over
the world and this is to Alleviate poverty and also encourage the use
of Internet and computers worldwide.

Kindly Fill the form and send it to the claiming agent in West Africa
where the Lottery was Conducted with the under listed information as
soon as possible: Contact the claiming agent officer through his E-mail
address as soon as possible for the immediate release of your winning
funds:


NAME: FRANK DAVIDE- CONTACT: microsoftnigeria@gmail.com
PHONE:+2348067251152
_______________________________________________________________
1. NAME IN FULL:......................... .......
2. ADDRESS:...................... ...............
3. NATIONALITY: .............................. ..
4. AGE:.......................... ...............
5. OCCUPATION:................... ...............
6. PHONE:........................ ...........
7. COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE .....................
(8)Winning numbers:..........990-11-815 -37-10-83
(9) Email ticket N0.........901-0148-790-691
(10) Lotto Batch N0.......13/FFP/LDL/037
(11) File REF N0.......MELI-T/17-F044262312
(12) SECURITY CODE:............901-0148-790 -691
______________________________ ______________________________ ____
For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information
confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your
prize been released to you. This is part of our security protocol to
avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this
programme by non-participant or unofficial personnel.
______________________________ ______________________________ ____
1. All claims are nullified after 20 working days from today.
2. Your WINNING NUMBERS must be in all your mails when you are
contacting the claiming officer.
3. Do inform the claiming officer of any change of names or addresses.
****************************** ******************************
****************************** *
CLAIMING AGENT NAME: FRANK DAVID E-mail CONTACT:
microsoftnigeria@gmail.com
PHONE:+2348067251152
Congratulations once again.

Yours in service,

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam