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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!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• 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:
  • "fudiciary" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "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!
• 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.
  • +447045775990 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "Microsoft Award Team 2008" <mrcolesmith8-@live.com>
Date: Sat, 04 Oct 2008 09:40:04 GMT
Subject: YOUR EMAIL HAVE WON =?iso-8859-1?B?ozEsMDAwLA==?= 000.00GBP

MICROSOFT AWARD TEAM
20 Craven Park, Harlene's London NW10,
London, United Kingdom.
CONGRATULATION
This is to inform you that your email has won a consulation
prize of the
Microsoft Corporation EMAIL DRAW held on 2nd of October
2008. Your email
has won 1,000, 000.00 (Great British Pounds). Please fill
the verfication
form below and send it with your (Ref#:
BTD/610/08),and(Batch #:742701AE)to
your claims agent.
PAYMENT RELEASE ORDER FORM:
Full Names___________________
Gender_______________________
Age__________________________
Contact Address______________
Occupation___________________
Country______________________
Nationality________________
Telephone numbers____________
Batch________________________
Reference____________________
Microsoft Fudiciary Agent
Mr. cole Smith
E-mail:mrcolesmith8-@live.com
Tel: +44 704 5775 990.
Congratulations from the entire member of the Microsoft
Promotion Award
team.
Sincerely,
Dr.Henry Moore
Head Customer care Service

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam