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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "first national bank" (not involved with lotteries)
• 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!
• 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.
  • +447031833675 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: Microwsoft Lottery <mslpro16@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 09:38:54 +0200
Subject: RE: WINNING NOTIFICATION:



Dear Mr.Sommerhagen,

Thanks for your mail, however your winning information's have been forwarded to our paying bank in South Africa(First National Bank of South Africa) the contact person their is Mr.Khumalo Anderson (Foreign Remittance Officer) please if he contacts you do comply with him to enable them make an effective transfer to you.

For you to know the authenticity of this winning that it is 100% real, you can contact your claim agent here in London Mr.fortune Smith the director genera Omega Crossing Pty on this direct tel no;+447 031 833 675 for more information's regarding this diractives.

Please as soon as the bank contact you do inform your agent for more advice.

Thanks for your correspondence.

Mrs.Henrik.
_________________________________________________________________
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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam