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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • ",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)
  • "you are advice to " (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.
  • +31645447916 (Netherlands, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "Budhrani Brown" <budhrani@gibtelecom.net>
Reply-To: tonyivan38@yahoo.de
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:59:37 +0200
Subject: E-business promotional


Association Of Markt Lottery International Programs.
Foundation's Officer.
107 Waterloop 1902AB, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.


Markt Lottery NL Announce today,23th JUN 2008 you as one of the lucky winners
of the Markt Lottery Programs.

Your email address emerged as one of the winners of $2,500,000.00 in the
Category "A", Draws held on the 20th of Jun 2008 our E-business promotional
draws from 21,000 E-addresses of individuals/companies computer Ballot all
over the world.

Attached with Ref NL11-0611A-1,
Batch No: 46-184-WAN with serial NO:215-18 drew the lucky Numbers
33,13,26,06,43,46.

This won the 2008 draw of your winnings Should be claimed from our Claims
Office.(Markt Lottery LTD) As we have notified them.


*************************************
Name: Mr. Tony Ivan
Tel+31 64 544 7916
Email:tonyivan38(at)yahoo.de
*************************************

You are advice to provide him with the following information:

Names:
Telephone/Fax number:
Nationality:
Age:
Occupation:

NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 14 days, thereafter
unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake. Remember to quote your
reference information in all correspondence.

Yours Faithfully,
Budhrani Brown
Lottery Coordinator.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam