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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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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:
  • "claim 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.
  • +447024028719 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <haribench@live.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:13:38 +0000
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Dear_(Winner)_Your_Email_Won**_=A3520=2C000.00_GBP?=



United Kingdom National Lottery programme2nd Floor Chiltern House, St Nicholas Court25 - 27 Castlegate, Nottingham NG1 7AR,United Kingdom.http://www.statelottery.com/
Dear Lucky Winner,
We happily announce to you the result of the State lottery draws held on Saturday,October 17 2008, Lotto 6/49 in Essex, United Kingdom. All participantswere selected randomly from World Wide Web site through computer draws systemand extracted from over 10,000.00 companies and personal e-mail addresses.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: B9564 7560 with serial number046560 drew the winning numbers 6 7 14 16 17 27 Bonus 32. You have thereforebeen approved to claim a total sum of ?500,000.00 (FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS STERLING) in cash credited
to file EAAL/9080118308/08.
To file for your claim, please contact our corresponding claim agentimmediately you read this message for quick and urgent release of
your fund.
Contact information is as follow: Mr. Harrison Bench.Email: haribench@live.com Tel +447024028719

Here are the informations needed for you to fill out:

1.Full Name:................................2.Full Address:.............................3.Marital Statue:...........................4.Occupation:...............................5.Age:.......................................6.Sex:.......................................7.Nationality:...............................8.Tel.Number:..............................9.Country Of Residence.....................

***Due to possible mix up of some numbers and email contacts, we ask thatyou keep this award strictly from public notice until your claim has beenprocessed and your money remitted. This is part of our security protocol to avoiddouble claiming or unscrupulous acts by some participants of this program.
Congratulations once more from all members and staff of this promotionallottery program.

Yours Sincerely,Mary Jack (Mrs.) **Customer Service**

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam