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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:
  • "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.
  • +2348037615405 (Nigeria, 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.
  • claimsection001@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: AUSTRALIAN LOTTERY INC .. <claimsection001@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2007 19:17:14 +0200
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION

AUSTRALIA LOTTO LOTTERY INC.
5th Floor East Commonwealth
Centre 55 Currie Street Adelaide
SA 5000, South Australia.

You hereby have been approved a lump sum of
US$500,000.00 (DOLLARS) in cash credit file Ref:
ILP/HW 47509/02 from the total cash prize of
US$400,000,000.00(DOLLARS) shared amongst eight lucky
winners in this category. AUSTRALIAN LOTTO INC,
collects all the email addresses of the people that
are active online, among the millions that subscribed
to World Wide Web, we only select eight people every
Month as our winners through electronic balloting
System without the winner applying, we congratulate
you for being one of the people selected.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM: You are to contact your
Claims Agent on or before your date of Claim, Winners
Shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement
Centre. Australian Lotto prize must be claimed no
later than 15 days from date of Draw Notification
after the Draw date in which Prize has won. Any prize
not claimed within this period will be forfeited.

These are your identification numbers:
Ref: ILP/HW 47509/02
Batch:05/763638/IPD
Winning no: 11 13 26 34 44 48

These numbers fall within the African claims agent's
Location file, you are requested to contact our Claims
Department using the contact information below for
more information on how you can claim your prize
money,send your winning identification numbers to your
claims agent with the below email address:

CLAIMS DEPARTMENT CONTACT INFO:
CONTACT PERSON:........REV.MAURICE SHAPIRO,
E-mail:claimsection001@yahoo.co.uk
Tell:+234-803-761-5405.

You are therefore advised to send the following
information to the claims department to facilitate the
verification on your winning.

1. Full name..............
2. Country................
3. Contact Address........
4. Telephone Number.......
5. Marital Status.........
6. Occupation.............
. Age....................

Congratulations!! once again.

Yours in service,
MRS JULIA BRASTOW.
(Public Relations Officer)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam