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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "hundred thousand united states dollars" (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!
• 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.
  • barrycrawford22@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "World Promotions" <can1972@hamburg-online.de>
Reply-To: <trustees_25@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2006 05:06:21 +0200
Subject: Urgent Message for you! Reply ASAP


Universal Online Users Promotion
Reference number: 500/UPB221
Serial number: UPB 2125

NOTIFICATION OF PRIZE WINNING

We are happy to announce to you the draw of the Universal Online Users Promotion programs which was held recently in various parts of the world in Europe, Americas and Asia. Your e-mail address was matched to Serial number UPB 2125 drew the winning: 06/EU/24/17/48, which subsequently gave you the winning in the 1st category.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of US$500,000 {Five Hundred Thousand Dollars Only) credited to file UPB/4067983651/06. This is from a total prize of US$23,500,000.0 (Twenty Three Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) shared amongst the first Fifteen (15) lucky winners in this category all over the globe.

In this our newly introduced program, no purchase is necessary. Participation is done by automated random selection of email addresses of various individuals and companies drawn mainly from the various continents of including Americas, United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa.

You are advised to keep this information of your winning secret to yourself to avoid double claim and impersonation of your person by individuals that might attempt to claim your winning without your knowledge.

Also we want to let you know that a sum of 5,000 dollars has been disbursed to you as first payment. This is to enable you take care of the tax charges associated with your winning. This 5,000 dollars forms part of your lottery and the balances of 495,000 US dollars will be paid to you as soon as the tax charges have been cleared.

Please contact your claims agent immediately providing him with your full names, contact address and telephone number to receive this first payment of 5,000 dollars. This amount has already been given to him on your behalf so you can use it to take care of the tax charges. You must contact your claims agent within a reasonable time you received this message, otherwise it will be assumed that you do not want the winning prize and the amount will be awarded to another person. Below is the contact detail of your claims agent:

Mr. Barry Crawford
Claims Agent Ref: 500/UPB221
Email: barrycrawford22@hotmail.com


Let us know immediately you receive the 5,000 dollars from him and settle the tax charges involved so that we can send the balance of your winning.


CONGRATULATIONS!

Mr. Michael Cole
Universal Online Users Promotion


--
Hamburg Online
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http://www.hamburg-online.de

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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam