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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!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• 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:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "million british pounds" (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 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.
  • +447031910609 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
  • +447031853340 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "Award Team" <award27@superposta.com>
Reply-To: timuk2008@live.com
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:36:46 -0700
Subject: C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s !!!


Micro-soft Innovator Award
30 Cleveland Street London W1T 4JD United Kingdom

Ref: BTD/968/07
Batch: 409978E

Dear Email User,

MICRO-SOFT PRESENTS HILL TEAM WITH INNOVATOR AWARD

This is to inform you that your email has won a consolations prize of the
Microsoft year anniversary Corporation EMAIL DRAW held August 15, 2008. Your
email has won you £1,000, 000.00 (One Million British Pounds Sterling). To
claim your prize, you are advised to contact your Fiduciary Agent Mr.
Timothy Williams with the following details to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications:

======================================================

NAME (IN FULL):
ADDRESS:
NATIONALITY:
SEX:
AGE:
PHONE/MOBILE:
FAX:
OCCUPATION:
COMPANY:
REF/BATCH NUMNBER:
======================================================

Contact your Fiduciary Agent via em ail immediately within 24hrs. You are
obliged to donate 10% of your winning to any listed charity organization in
Africa.

Name: Mr. Timothy Williams
Tel: + 44 703 185 3340 /+44 703 191 0609
Email: *timuk2008@live.com<http://us.mc561.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=timuk2008@live.com>
* <http://us.mc561.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=timuk2008@live.com>

Sincerely,

Mr. Abraham Peters
Micro-soft Promotion Team

************************************************************************

PLEASE NOTE! You may also receive similar e-mails from people portraying to
be other Organizations or Microsoft Inc. This is solely to collect your
personal information from you and lay claim over your notification letter,
Kindly forward their mails to us and delete immediately from your mail box.
Do not give further correspondence to such person or body.

Microsoft shall not be held responsible for any loss of fund arising from
the above mentioned!

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam