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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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "million 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)
  • ",000,000" (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)
• 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 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.
  • agt.sharondavid@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Ebose Finance Inc <agt.sharondavid@googlemail.com>
Reply-To: agt.sharondavid@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:24:59 GMT
Subject: You Have Won!!(2008 Toyota Camry)




TOYOTA PROMO 2008
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of 3,000,000,00(three million pounds sterling) and a car ( 2008 TOYOTA CAMRY ) for the Year Prize Promotion which is Organized by The Free Lotto Sweepstakes.

The Free Lotto Sweepstakes! collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail and few from other e-mail providers.

Six people are selected monthly to benefit from this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners.

BATCH NUMBER: YPA/07-43658
REFERENCE NUMBER: 2008234522
PIN: 1206

FILL AND RETURN

Full Name___ ______________
Telephone Number___________
Residential Address___ __________
Marital Status_____ ________
Occupation_______________
Age___________
Country___________

Please choose your mode of payment:

Bank to transfer_____________
Our Customer Courier System________

Congratulations!! once again.
Yours in service,
AGENT SHARON DAVID
Email: agt.sharondavid@yahoo.com.hk

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam