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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:
  • "national lottery promotion" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • ",000,000" (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)
• 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.
  • +2347087270290
• 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.
  • mark_sahu@sify.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Australia Promotions <aus7776@msn.com>
Reply-To: <mark_sahu@sify.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 12:19:20 +0000
Subject: Congratulations, You have won an email lottery



Australian National Lottery Promotions.

We are happy to announce you that you are one of the lucky winners of the last Australia lottery promotion which was held yesterday, 20th February 2009. The lottery is based on an email balloting system for internet users. The E-business promotional draws was conducted amongst 21,000,000 Email-addresses of eligible individuals/companies all over the world. Your email address emerged as one of the two winners of the Category "C" prize of $1,000,000 USD.

You are attached to ticket number; 47061725 07056490902, serial number 7741137002. This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows 5-13-33-37-42 bonus number 17. Further more your details (e-mail address) fall within our African representative office in, West Africa,
as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of US$1,000,000 will be released to you from this regional branch office in Africa.

Therefore contact your claim agent through his email and telephone number to process your claim with your information as indicated below.

1. Full Names:
2. Address:
3. Age:
4. Sex:
5. Marital Status:
6. Occupation:
7. Phone numbers:
8. Country:.

Contact the Claims agent:

NAME: MR. Mark T. Sahu
EMAIL: mark_sahu@sify.com
phone: +234-708-727-0290

Sincerely,
Mrs. Melisa Nicholas
Promotions Manager
Congratulations once again

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam