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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "international lottery programme"
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned 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 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.
  • +2348034869719 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)
• 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.
  • nigeriaclaiming_agent@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: weatherlottery06@netscape.net
Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 21:39:16 -0400
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!




THE WEATHER AUSTRALIANINTERNATIONAL LOTTERY PROGRAMMAE 2006

Date: 25/5/2006
Ref: 7458222754
Batch: 905534213/255
Winning no: XB3/701/LNRC



CONGRATULATIONS!!


Dear Lucky winner,

We are delighted to inform you of your prize release on the 1st of March 2006 from the weather Australian international lottery programme 2006. Which is fully based on an electronic selection of winners.Your name was attached to ticket number; 7458222754,905534213
serial number 6741137002.

This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows 2-17-43-47-52bonus number 17,which consequently won the lottery in the second category.

You here by have been approved a lump sum pay of UK £200,000.00 (TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS) in cash credit file ref: ILP/MW 47509/02 from the total cash prize shared amongst eight lucky winners in this category. All participant were selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Uk,Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our international promotions program which is conducted annually.

This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by conglomerates of some multinationals companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they have operational base.

Further more your details (e-mail address) fall within our Nigerian representative office in Lagos, as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of UK £200,000.00 will be released to you from this regional branch office in London. Simply contact our Claiming Agent
Dr stephen Alozie with this email address nigeriaclaiming_agent@yahoo.co.uk
phone number +234-8034869719

We hope with part of your prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes for Uk £1.3 million international draw.

Please quote your Date of draw, reference, batch and winning numbers, which can be found on the top left corner of this and telephone number to help locate your file easily. For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize released to you.

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this programme by non-participant or unofficial personnel.

Note, all winnings must be claimed on or before 15th of June 2006, otherwise all funds will be returned as Unclaimed and eventually donated to charity Congratulations once again on your winnings!!!

Best Regards,

Dr Martins Johnson
{PROMOTION MANAGER}
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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam