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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
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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "i will like you to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
  • "i will advice you " (this email uses bad English)
  • "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
• 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: mr alex casey casey <mralexcasey_claimsdept@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2007 00:11:37 +0100 (BST)
Subject: RE:{Spam?} Understand This


Good Day Mr. Rowland Scholz,

The receipt of your email was well acknowledged.

I will start by explaining how your email address was chosen which made you a lucky winner, Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 023-1111-790-458 with
Serial number 5073-12 drew the lucky numbers:04-18-22-27-44-48 and a
bonus number of 33 with this lucky number subsequently won you the lottery
in the 2nd category. bonus no.20 .You have therefore been approved
to claim a total sum of US$4 464 000.00 Four Million Four Hundred and
Sixty Four Thousand United State Dollars. in cash credited to file
KTU/9023118308/03.

Hence I will like you to understand the fact that you are one of the 6 international winners in this year's promotion, so i will advice you to go ahead and process the payment of your winning funds because this lottery is real so you don't have to be skeptical about it because I beleive it s a dream come true for you.

Furthermore I will like to give you a friendly advice on your prize by asking you to process the payment of your funds because I understand the fact that you are nervous about your prize, but I am not supprise about your case because it hap pend this week wednesday when we one of our winners based in the U.S.A was skeptical about her winning prize, I had to convince and advice her to go ahead and process her winnings and she took my advice and went ahead with the payment process at the end of the day when her winning cheque was delivered to her home address, she received it and went to the bank to cash her funds only for her to call me and thank me that she is now a millionaire and I jubiliated with her on phone.

So on this note I want you to take my advice and proceed with the payment process of your winning funds.

Do have a most wonderful day ahead, as I await your urgent responce in anticipation.

Sincerely,
Mr. Alex Casey
Claims Dept


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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam