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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!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• 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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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: clearin house <clearinghousemrstina@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 10:32:08 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Attn: Trennen Baerder


Attn: Trennen Baerder

We hereby want to inform you that we have confirmed with the British Lottery that all verification was successful and you are to pay for the Processing/Administrative charges, the cost of transferring your lottery winnings . We would have been able to deduct these funds from your winning sum, but your winnings came in bonds, which will not be tampered, until it gets to you due to security reasons.

You are required to provide your account details for the funds to be transfered to you via wire transfer and this will take 72hours to reflect your account, and also we request that you to pay the sum of £350.00 GBP (Three hundred and Fifty Great Britain Pounds) only, ( equivalent in USD is $805,14c ) via money gram,for the above stated reason.

Immediately after the administrative fees is paid via Money Gram,ensure to send to us via email attachment the below stated information for confirmation.

That is:
(1) Name of sender,
( 2 ) )Reference Number
( 3 ) Complete address of sender,
( 4 ) Amount sent,
( 5 ) Name of receiver.

You are therefore advised to pay the above mentioned charges via Money Gram in your local area to our account officer: Mr. Frank Carsley, 42 page street Victoria, London, United Kingdom and send the payment information to me via email attachment for the immediately release of your Funds via overnight delivery.

Yours Sincerely,
Henry Corn.
Commission

Mrs Tina Wallace Mr. Henry Corn Dr.Aaron paul
Co-ordinator Claim Agent Chief Executive





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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam