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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:
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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:
  • "british lottery international" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "million dollars" (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)
  • ",500,000" (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)
  • "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.
  • +447024079267 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • edwardsteve@rocketmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: edwardsteve@rocketmail.com
Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2008 16:24:58 -0800 (PST)
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION


¡Tengo nueva dirección de correo!Ahora puedes escribirme a:edwardsteve79@yahoo.com.co



- 100 British Lottery Headquarters: Customer Service 28 TANFIELD ROAD, CROYDON.LONDON Ref: BTL/491OXI/04 Batch: 12/25/01122 WINNING NOTIFICATION We happily announce to you the draw of the British Lottery International programs held on the 1st of November 2008 in London.Your e-mail address attachedto ticket number: 564 75600545 188 with Serial number 5388/02 drew the luckynumbers: 31-6-26-13-35-7,which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category.You are therefore, been approved to claim a total sum of US$2,500,000.00 (Two million, five hundred thousand, United States Dollars) in cash credited to file KPC/9080118308/02.This is from a total cash prize of US $125 Million dollars, shared amongst the first Fifty (50) lucky winners in this category.This year Lottery ProgramJackpot is the largest ever for British Lottery.The estimated $125 million jackpot would be the sixth-biggest in U.K. history. The biggest was the $363 million jackpot that went to two winners in a May 2000 drawing of The Big Game, Mega Millions' predecessor. Please note that your lucky winning numbers falls within our European bookle representative office in Europe as indicated in our play coupon. In view of this, your US$2,500,000.00 (Two million, five hundred thousand,United States Dollars) would be released to you by our affiliate bank in London. Our agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds to you as soon as you make contact with him. All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web site through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 companies,no tickets were required to enter.This promotion takes place annually. For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims is processed and your winnings remitted to you. This is a part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements.Please Note.To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent with the below details for processing of your claims.AGENT:Edward Steve Email:mail to :edwardsteve@rocketmail.com Customer care:Tel- +44 7024079267 To avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please quote your reference/batch numbers in any correspondences with us or our designated agents.Congratulations once more from all members and staffs of this program.Thank you for being part of our promotional lottery program. Sincerely, Sir Michael Manson........................................................................................................................ The Information in this email is confidential. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying,distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance to it, is prohibited and may be unlawful.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam