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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:
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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "million united states dollars" (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 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.
  • donaldmiller@london.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
  • claimoffices_uk@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: microsoft promotion <proms_ms36@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <claimoffices_uk@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:51:57 +0200
Subject: AIM : FIGHTING POVERTY ROUND THE WORLD





TO
BILL GATES MICROSOFT AWARD TEAM PROMOTION 2007.



MOTTO: FIGHTING POVERTY ROUND THE WORLD

Bill Gates Award Promotion Head Office.475 Park Ave S New York, NY 10016-6901 USA.
Technology Life without Bill Gates not so wonderful By Kevin Maney,


Ref: BTD/968/07Batch: 409978E
For the attention of the winner:WINNING NOTIFICATIONThe prestigious Microsoft successfully organized a Sweepstakes in New York USA marking the the Bill Gates end of the year 2007 anniversary, The Management rolled out over $100,000.000.00 (One Hundred Million United States Dollars). 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 an electronic computer draw system attaching personalized email addresses to ticket numbers. Microsoft is now the largest Internet Company and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used programmed, Microsoft and MSN are running an e-mail beta test.Your email address as indicated was drawn and attached to ticket number 008795727498 with serial numbers BTD/9080648302/07 and drew the lucky numbers 14-21-25-39-40-47(20) which subsequently won you $1,000,000.00 (One Million United States Dollars) as one of the jackpot winners in this draw.

It is very interesting to inform you that we have Six clearance offices zoned continentally. Such as, Australia, Japan, United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and Brazil.
clearance zones are picked randomly by computer, each winning number falls within any of the clearance zones, is the duty of the approved zonal clearance office to handle all clearance process to make sure bank releases won prize in time.You,your prize number falls at Europe region approved clearance office in England United Kingdom, in view of this, your prize money will be released from London England.These Draws are commemorative and as such special.To file for your claim, please contact our PAYMENT AGENT as soon as you read this message for urgent release of your fund, his contact information is as follows

Contact Person : Dr. Donald Miller
EC1M 5RJ London United Kingdom


Email: donaldmiller@london.com / claimoffices_uk@yahoo.com

Contact Number : 0044 702408 6251

Remember you neither participated physically in this computer ballot draw nor did
you buy any ticket for this draw, your email name is lucky to be among the selected in this promotion.
For security reasons, please keep your winning Information confidential till your claims are processed and your money remitted to you to avoid double claiming.


Our special thanks and gratitude to Bill Gates and his associates

Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, sponsored this award promotion.

Congratulations once more from all members and staff of the Microsoft Award team New York USA
We hope with a part of your prize, you will utilize and educate others the importance of internet use.


You are advised to contact your fiduciary agent with the following details to avoid unnecessary delays and complications:
NAME:.....................................ADDRESS:................................NATIONALITY:..........................SEX:........................................AGE:........................................PHONE/MOBILE:.......................FAX:........................................OCCUPATION:...........................
COMPANY:................................TICKETS/BALLOT:......................


Thank you for being part of our commemorative end of year Anniversary Draws
Mrs. Bryan M.c Donald
Bill Gates, Microsoft Promotion Team Vice President New York USA Warning!!!Any mail received of this such with any other trade mark or address should be forwarded to your claims processor immediately
_________________________________________________________________
Windows Vista + Windows Live. Open up your digital life. Get Windows Live free.
http://get.live.com

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam