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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
• 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.
  • davidkumalo_claims01@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: world_lotterysa@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 09:28:56 -0800
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



FROM THE DESK OF THE PROMOTION MANAGER
WORLDSLOTERY, SOUTH AFRICA.

DEAR SIR/MADAM

We are pleased to inform you of our announcement today, 16th May 2006
of winners in the WORLD LOTTERYSA Promotional draw held on the 10th
May 2006. Participants were selected through a computer ballot
system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from
Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Middle East, and New
Zealand as part of our electronic business Promotions Program.You
qualified for the draw as a result of you visiting various e-business
website we are running on the Internet.

A ticket number 100-309-7482,with serial number 111 410-887 was
attached to your entry which drew the lucky numbers 1 10 29 37 45 49
and consequently won in the second category.You are therefore awarded a
cash prize of US$900,000.00, which is the winning payout for Second category
winners.This is from the total prize money of US$13,650,000.00 shared
among several international/local winners in the Second category.
CONGRATULATIONS!

You are to file in your claim to the director of claims department with
the information below to arrange for your payout,

Mr.David Kumalo
Tel:27-83-590-2015
Email:davidkumalo_claims01@yahoo.com

Ensure that you contact the claim department not later than 21 days
from the day you receive this notification message.

Sincerely,

MR AUTHUR MOSES.
THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
WORLDLOTTERY SOUTH AFRICA

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam