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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
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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:
  • "hundred thousand united state 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)
  • ",500,000" (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)
  • "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
• 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.
  • +31644863856 (Netherlands, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "Beijing 2008" <alexanderinfonl@yahoo.it>
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:34:45 -0500
Subject: ATTN

Attn: Winner,

Notification Of Beijing 2008
(Ticket Number: BC2008/02)

We wish to congratulate you over the Beijing 2008 Olympic
Promo success in our computer balloting held on 10th of
January 2008.

This is a Millennium Scientific Computer Game in which email
addresses were extracted with software and the addresses
were scrutinized with a ballot system.

It is a promotional program aimed at encouraging Internet
users, which you do not need to buy ticket to enter for it.
Your email address has been picked up in the second category
and you have been approve for the star prize of US
$3,500,000.00 (Three Million And Five Hundred Thousand
United State Dollars Only).

To claim your winning prize you will need to contact our
branch office in Netherlands as soon as possible for the
immediate advise on how to claim your win :

Rotterdam Branch Officer Incharge
Mr. A. Van Gogh
BEIJIN 2008 PRIZE NOTIFICATION DEPARTMENT
Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
TEL: +31 644 863 856
EMAIL: infonl-alexander@usa.net

You have to call our office with your ticket number as
stated above for your serial number, Lucky Number and Batch
number to be given to you.

You must respond back with the following details as
requested below:

1Full Names
2Contact Telephone Number
3.Occupation
4.Sex
5.Age
6.Country
7.Nationalty
8.Serial no
9.lucky No
10.Batch no

Note : As a winner in this lottery programme,you will be
obliged to attend an expensive-trip paid Lottery
promotional Seminar Organized by the BEIJING OLYMPICS 2008
and FIFA COMMITTE in CHINA in month of April 2008 Which you
will be sponsor with 2 of your family to attend 2008
Olympics, with free flight ticket.

Once again congratulations!!!
Best Regards,
Cheng Mei (Mrs.)
(Coordinator).

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam