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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) 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:
  • "22 garden close, stamford" (address often used in fake lottery 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!

Fraud email example:

From: mathew lore <vw_mattlore@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 22:15:17 +0100 (BST)
Subject: PROVIDE REQUIRED INFORMATIONS ONLY


THE LOTTERY DEPARTMENT
Volkswagen Automobiles
22 Garden Close, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 2YP, London
United Kingdom

Date:14-06-2007

REF: VM:12052007/21
BATCH: x7pwyz2007

Dear Chirag Gajendrae,

Congratulations once again.

I received your mail.
All participants were selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Middle East, Asia, Africa, Canada, Europe and North America and Oceania. This obligation is part of our International Promotions program, which is conducted annually.
Furthermore, This programme was design to encourage the use of the Internet in developing nations but presently we are for now involving all the continents in the world. Winners are normally picked from the Internet depending on the usage and also your luck is based on if you are on the internet when our computer balloting is taking place. The major computer companies in the world contribute to this programme with little contribution from the United Nations.
Also this programme is covered by the various law of lottery of the United Kingdom and also of various countries of the European union. The Payment of our winners will be grouped into three payment zones. {Europe, ASIA And Africa} through computer balloting.
Another computer ballot will hold to determine the paying banks our twenty nine winners will be zoned to, so do endeavour to send your required information on time.

To enable us file in your name for payment, please do provide the following informations:
1.YOUR FULL NAME:..................................................
2.YOUR SEX:.............................................................
3.YOUR ADDRESS:....................................................
4.YOUR FAX/PHONE NUMBER :.................................
5.YOUR OCCUPATION:...............................................
6.YOUR COMPANY'S NAME:......................................
7.YOUR AGE:.............................................................
8.YOUR REF NUMBER:..............................................

Best regards,
Matt Lore



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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam