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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:

• 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!

Fraud email example:

From: Yahoo! Customer Care <y08-08@live.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 05:09:16 -0400
Subject: Ugently Needed - Yahoo!



YAHOO UK&IRELAND National Lottery P O Box 1010 Liverpool, L70 1NL UNITED KINGDOM (Customer Services) Attn: Winner

We
receive your e-mail and wish to inform you that your email address won our
lottery. Kindly fill the below information and submit back to us.

You are
therefore advised to send the following information below to e-mail
address in order to facilitate them and process
the transfer of your fund with the appointed bank or the delivery
company.

Send your
Identification Numbers/Your Personal Information to her immediately:

Personal Information 1. Full name.................. 2. Country....................
3. Contact Address........... (P.O. Box is not allowed)
4. Telephone Number.........
5. Marital Status..............
6. Occupation..................
7. Age......................... 8. Sex......................... 9. Country of origin.................



Congratulations once again.
Yours in service,
_________________________________________________________________
Get more from your digital life. Find out how.
http://www.windowslive.com/default.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Home2_082008

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam