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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:
  • "fiduciary 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)
  • ",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!

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:13:46 -0600
Subject: Crown Lottery Winning Notification Batch N0: A6/0044/2009




Attn: Lucky Winner,

We are pleased to inform you that you have emerged as a winner in the 2009
Crown International Lottery Programs. Your email address was selected by our
Electronic Random Selection System (ERSS) from an exclusive list of
30,000,000 e-mail addresses of individual and corporate bodies generated
from an internet resource database. No tickets were sold.

Your email address is identified with Batch Number: A6/0044/2009 and Ticket
Number: RM 3812/2009-09 in Category "B" and your claims portfolio is filled
with Serial Number: CLP/007 and Ref.Number:JN/09-003/LC.You are therefore
advised to receive a cash prize of £1,500,000.00 (One Million Five Hundred
Thousand Great British Pound) from the total payout.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Your prize award has been insured under a bonded depository policy with your
e-mail address, and will be transferred to you upon meeting the claims
requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and
satisfactory report.

To file for the processing of your prize sum payment, you are advised to
contact our Certified and Accredited claims agent for category "B" winners
with the information below:

*************************************
Name: Mr. Brian Anderson
E-mail: mr_briananderson1@j-mail.info
Fiduciary Agent
*************************************
Endeavour to provide him with the following information in your contact with
him.

Names:
Telephone:
Fax number:
Nationality:
Age:
Occupation:

NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 14 days, thereafter
unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake. Remember to quote your
reference information in all correspondence.

You are to keep all lotto information confidential, especially your
reference and ticket numbers. This is important as a case of double claims
will not be entertained.

Members of staff of affiliate agencies are automatically not allowed to
participate in this program. Furthermore, should there be any change of
address do inform our agent as soon as possible.

Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for being
part of our promotional program.

Yours Faithfully,
Nicholson Hazel
Online Co-ordinator
Crown Lottery International

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam