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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:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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 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.
  • paulwise01@netscape.net

Fraud email example:

From: "Frank Caine" <frankcaine01@msn.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 06:05:35 +0000
Subject: YOUR WINNINGS

ONE WORLD LOTTO
44,QUIGLEY STREET
SW 12 5 BD,LONDON-UK.

AWARD NOTIFICATION / PROCESSING ADVICE:

We are pleased to inform you of the announcement
today, 17TH OCTOBER,2005 of winners of the
SCIENTIFIC
GAME PROMO LOTTERY; THE UNITED KINGDOM INTERNATIONAL
PROGRAM held on the 15TH OCTOBER,2005
Your email address attached to ticket number
18-19-34-37-47023-56678230954, with serial number
5073-11 drew the lucky numbers , and consequently won
the lottery in the 1st category. You have therefore
been approved of a lump sum pay out of US$1M(ONE MILLION UNITED STATES
DOLLARS) credited to file REF NO. SGIL/763276/03.
This is from total prize money of 24,000,000.00 pounds
sterling shared among the 50 international winners
in 1st-3rd categories.

All participants were selected through a computer
ballot system drawn from 25,000 company email
addresses and 30,000,000 individual email addresses
from Australia, New Zealand, America, Europe, North
America and Asia as part of International Promotions
Program, which is conducted annually.

Your fund is now in custody of a
financial/Securities company. Due to the mix up of
some numbers and names,we ask that you keep this award
strictly confidential until your claim has been processed
and your money remitted to your account. To receive your claim,
please contact your file/claim
officer:

MR.PAUL WISE
FILE CLAIMS OFFICER
ONE WORLD INT. LOTTO
lONDON,U.K
Email:paulwise01@netscape.net

All prize money must be claimed Within ten working
days.After this date, all funds will be returned as
unclaimed.
NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, please remember to quote your reference
and batch numbers in every one of your correspondences
with your agent. Furthermore, should there be any
change of your address, do inform your claims agent as
soon as
possible.
Congratulations once again from our team of staff and
thank you for being part of our promotional program.
Note: Anybody under the age of 18 is
AUTOMATICALY DISQUALIFIED. Please include your private
telephone and fax numbers while replying.

Sincerely,
Mr FRANK CAINE
Lottery Cordinator.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam