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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
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • ",000,000" (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 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.
  • +31624511164 (Netherlands, 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.
  • m.vaughan@virgilio.it (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
  • dekkerg@muchomail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Rasmi Krippendorf" <mail@rasmi.dk>
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 11:52:37 +0200
Subject: VS: FROM MELANIE VAUGHAN



Rasmi

-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: m.vaughan@virgilio.it [mailto:m.vaughan@virgilio.it]
Sendt: 5. juli 2007 12:07
Til: undisclosed-recipients:
Emne: FROM MELANIE VAUGHAN

FROM MELANIE VAUGHAN
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT
RESULTS FOR CATEGORY "A" DRAWS

Congratulations to you as we bring to
your notice, the results of the First Category draws of THE MICROELEC
LOTTO PROMO INT. We are happy to inform you that you have emerged a
winner under the First Category, which is part of our promotional
draws. The draws were being officially announced on the 1st of July,
2007.

Participants were selected through a computer ballot system
drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from
Africa, America, Asia, Australia,Europe, Middle East and Oceania as
part of our International Promotions Program.

Your e- mail address,
attached to winnining numbers 26990 consequently won in the First
Category. You have therefore been awarded a lump sum pay out of
1,000,000.00eur (One million euros), which is the winning payout for
Category A winners.This is from a total cash prize of 10,000,000.00
Million Euros shared amongst the first Ten (10) lucky winners in this
category.

CONGRATULATIONS!
Your fund is now deposited with the
paying Bank.In your best interest to avoid mix up of numbers and names
of any kind, we request that you keep the entire details of your award
strictly from public notice until the process of transferring your
claims has been completed, and your funds remitted to your account.This
is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or
unscrupulous acts by participants/nonparticipants of this program.

Please contact your claims agent immediately for due processing and
remittance of your prize money to a designated bank account of your
choice. You are advised to contact the agents by email,phone or fax.
Failure to do so may warrant disqualification.

NOTE: For easy
reference and identification, remember to quote your winning numbers
in your correspondence with your claims agent.

To file for your
claim, please contact the fiduciary agent with your winning numbers,
tel/fax numbers and full names.
***********************************************
MR. DEKKER GEORGE .
AMSTERDAM,THE NETHERLANDS.
TEL: 0031-624-511-164
FAX: 0031-847-366-
896.
REPLY EMAIL: dekkerg@muchomail.com
***********************************************
All winnings must be
notarized to complete the claim process, winners will be referred to a
Foreign Transfer Manager to have their winnings notarized.

Congratulations once again from all our staff.

Sincerely Yours,
MELANIE VAUGHAN.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam