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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• 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)
  • "20 craven park, harlesden" (address often used in fake lottery scams)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "million british pounds" (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)
  • ",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)
  • "00,000.00" (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.
  • +447031848810 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • fortunesmith2007@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Mrs.Rose Albert <mrs.rosealbert15@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <fortunesmith2007@hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2007 12:13:03 +0200
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION!



Microsoft Award Team20 Craven Park, Harlesden London NW10 United KingdomRef: BTD/968/05Batch: 409978E

Dear Winner,

CONGRATULATION! CONGRATULATION!! CONGRATULATION!!!

The prestigious Micrsoft and aol has set out and sucessfully organised a Sweepstakes marking the year 2007 anniversary we rolled out over GBP£4,419,864 for our end of year Anniversary Draws. Participants for the draws were randomly selected and drawn from a wide range of web hosts which we enjoy their patronage.

The selection was made through a computer draw system attaching personalised email addresses to ticket numbers. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.

Your email address as indicated was drawn and attached to ticket number 008795727498 with serial numbers BTD/9080648302/06 and drew the lucky numbers 14-21-25-39-40-47(20) which subsequently won you £1,000,000.00 (One Million British Pounds Sterling's Only) as one of the 5 jackpot winners in this draw. You have therefore won the entire winning sum of £1,000,000.00 (One Million British Pounds Sterling's Only) The draws registered as Draw number one was conducted in Brockley, London United Kingdom.These Draws are commemorative and as such special.

Furthermore your details(e-mail address) falls within our South African Representative paying bank (First National Bank of South Africa) as indicated in your play coupon and your prize sum of ₤1,000,000.00 (ONE MILLION BRITISH POUNDS STERLING'S)
HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE

Simply contact our Fiduciary Claim Agent in London then he will forward your details to South Africa where your own Payment is zoned. He will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your winning price money.
His contact details is shown below:Mr.Fortune Smith.
The Managing Director,
OMEGA CROSSING PTY LTD.
Tel; +44 703 184 8810
Email: fortunesmith2007@hotmail.com

To process your claims you are hereby advice to contact the Claim Agent immediatly with this information.

NAME:............................................................................................ ADDRESS:......................................................................................NATIONALITY:...............................................................................SEX:...............................................................................................AGE:...............................................................................................PHONE/MOBILE:............................................................................FAX:...............................................................................................OCCUPATION:................................................................................COMPANY:......................................................................................SERIAL/WINNING NUMNBER:.........................................................

Our special thanks and gratitude to Bill Gates and his associates.We wish you the best of luck as you spend your good fortune in this season.Thank you for being part of our commemorative end of year Anniversary Draws.

Mrs.Rose Albert.
Microsoft Promotion Team
_________________________________________________________________
Get the next generation of Windows Live services now!
http://get.live.com

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam