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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims office" (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.
  • +447024071992 (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.
  • info.uknlclaimsagent@gmail.com

Fraud email example:

From: no-reply0004@mchsi.com (info@national-lottery.co.uk)
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:03:18 +0000
Subject: REF NO: UKL/74-A0802742008

JULY 2008 AWARD BONANZA

Your email account have been picked as a winner of a lump sum pay out
of Eight hundred and ninety-one thousand, nine hundred and thirty-four Great
Britain pounds (£891,934.00 pounds sterling) in cash credited to file REF NO.
REF:UKL/74-A0802742008. This is from total prize money of GBP
£4,459,670.00 shared among the FIVE (5) international winners in this category.This
promotion is this year's United Kingdom National Lottery JULY 2008 BONANZA.

Ticket NO: 22-1356-4096-988
Serial NO: A069-08
Lucky NO: 12-13-21-26-32-39 Bonus-17
File REF NO: UKL/74-A0802742008
BATCH NO: 2008UKL-01

To begin your claim, please contact Claims Officer with your full
name,address and telephone number(s):
Mr. Richard Davies.
Email: info.uknlclaimsagent@gmail.com
Tel: +44 702 407 1992

He will brief you on steps to be taken for due processing and
remittance of your prize money.

Sincerely,
Dianne Thompson
Chief Executive Officer,
Camelot Group;
Operator of The National Lottery.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam