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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
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "u.k " (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.
  • +447005930986 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: HBE - Hendrick <hbe_za2010@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:41:40 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: AWARD !


CONGRATULATIONS
 
The U.K Mega Promotion team In conjunction with Microsoft Office Live is proud to inform you that you have won £ 730,000.00 (Seven Hundred and Thirty Thousand British Pounds)
 
WHY YOU HAVE WON
 
Your E-mail address is one of 5 lucky Addresses that have won in the weekly Promotion.
 
HOW DID YOU WIN
 
The U.K Mega Promotion, is an Internet based Lottery, Whereby all winners are selected by yahoo internet/email server, this email server visits all Internet providers and email address around the globe, be it .com, .org, .net and all country based web abbreviations, as you have .ca in Canada and .uk in United Kingdom, AOL and hotmails. We select one million email addresses from all over the globe after which 5 email addresses become the winning e-mail address.
 
DETAILS ON THE WINNINGS
 
Your Winning Serial Number is: IMP/73253ZA/2008, Batch Number: 642376/ZA/2008.
 
Just contact our processing agent / regional claim department below for claiming of your prize and remember to quote your Serial and Batch Number for easy processing of your prize. That's it!
 
INTERNATIONAL CLAIMS DEPT.
Office Manager: Mr. Power Mbethe
Tel:  +44 7005-930-986 Ext 1
Email: ukmega@officeliveusers.com
Web: www.ukmega.web.officelive.com
 
Before proceeding with your claim, endeavor to call the processing manager for clarification. Congratulations again and have a lot of fun. Notification Office U.K Mega Promotion. 
 
© Copyright 2003-2008 All rights reserved UK Mega Promotion

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam