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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:
  • "demurrage " (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
  • "insurance fee " (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
  • "security keeping fee" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "courier service" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
  • "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
• 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: FedEx Online Team Management <info@fedex.com>
Reply-To: fedex.courierservice05@hotellos.nl
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:50:44 -0300
Subject: CONFIRM OWNERSHIP (PARCEL)



CONFIRM OWNERSHIP (PARCEL)

Good Day!!!

We have a Parcel contained an International Cashier Bank Draft/Cheque worth
the sum of Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($800.000.00 USD) which will be
deliver to you at the moment as long as you provide all the requirement
information to the FedEx package company before the parcel can be shipped to
your own residential address in your country. Further more, you might
be asking
yourself how come this email, cheque or draft, Anyway, your cheque was brought
to our office by the Coca-Cola Bottling Company via a Lottery Fiduciary Claim
Agent, signifying that you are a rightful winner to their Lottery Award Promo
selected randomly. Your e-mail address was among the Ten lucky email addresses
which make your email address as one of the lucky email address and they have
decided to send it to you true Federal Express Delivery Service. What you have
to do now, is to contact our Delivery Department for immediate
dispatch to your
residential address. For your information, the Delivery fee and Security
Keeping fee & Shipping charges as well as the Vat fees have been paid by the
Lottery Fiduciary Company. You will have to pay a sum of $220.00 USD to the
FedEx Delivery Department being payment for the Insurance Fee of the FedEx
Company.And all you have to do now is to insured your winning parcel with the
Insurance Company which is registered with FedEx in Ivory Cost.

Also be informed that the Lottery Fiduciary company has paid the Delivery Fee
of your winning & Security Keeping also Shipping charges as well as the Vat
fees for you ,but you have to pay for the Insurance Fee, The reason
why you are
been ask to pay for the Insurance Fee is because of the fact that all items &
packages that is not Insured by the Insurance company of Ivory Cost are not
allowed to be delivered to their delivery address. So you are to pay the Fedex
Courier Service the Insurance Fee to enable the Insurance company of
Ivory Cost
Insured your winning's for delivery. As soon as you have paid our
delivery team
will take your Insurance fee, they will proceed to the Insurance company of
Ivory Cost to Insure your winning funds,as soon as it is been Insured by the
Insurance company of Ivory Cost they shall commence with your delivery without
any delay and also we shall provide you with the Insurance Certificate
that was
been given to us by the Insurance company of Nigeria as a proof that you have
Insured your winning which value the sum of Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars
($800.000.00 USD).

The main reason why you are been ask to Insured your Winning Funds is to
certify that the Bank Draft is not a Drug Affiliated Fund (DAF) neither is the
funds to sponsor Terrorism in your country this will help you to avoid
any form
of query from the Monetary Authority of your country. And also we can not take
the risk to carry out the delivery of your funds incase of any possible
demurrage so you have to contact our delivery team and ask them how you are
going to make the payment of the Insurance fee of your funds.We hope that you
will respond to us as soon as possible because if you fail to respond
until the
expiry date of this package, we may refer the package to the Ivory Cost
Commission for Welfare Or better still to Coca-Cola Bottling Company as the
package do not have a return address. Kindly contact the delivery department
(FedEx Delivery Post) with the details given below:

FedEx Delivery Post Contact Person: Mr. Kelvin Green
Tel: +22544497748
Email: {fedex.courierservice05@hotellos.nl}

Do provide us with this information, and it's mandatory to reconfirm your
Postal address and telephone numbers to enable us commence with your delivery
and mostly to enable us Insured your Winning Funds.

=========================================
DO PROVIDE US WITH BELOW INFORMATION
=========================================
FULL NAMES:
NATIONALITY
OCCUPATION:
TELEPHONE:
POSTAL ADDRESS:
STATE:
AGE:
COUNTRY:
SEX (M/F):
NEXT OF KINS:
========================================

Kindly complete the above form and summit it to the delivery manager on:
(fedex.courierservice05@hotellos.nl) As soon as your details are received, our
delivery team will give you the necessary payment procedure so that you can
effect the payment for the Insurance Fee. As soon as they confirm your payment
of $220.00 USD, they will not hesitate to to work stright to the Insurance
company and insure your winning for delivery. It usually takes 24 hours being
an over night delivery service to deliver your winning funds to you after it
has been Insured by the Insurance company. We were instructed to email you due
to the high priority of your package we had to inform you through the letter
that was attach in your package, We indeed personally sealed your Bank
Draft we
found your email contact in the attached letter as the recipient of the fore
most package. Ensure to contact our delivery department with the email address
given above and ensure to fill the form as well to enable a successful
reconfirmation and a safe delivery of your winning.

Yours Faithfully,
Mrs. Tracy Philip
FedEx Online Team Management

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam