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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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• 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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
• 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.
  • +447045717872 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: billyscott_09@live.com
Reply-To: claimsunit_department_09@live.co.uk
Date: Sun, 17 May 2009 20:05:07 +0800
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS.......YOU HAVE WON..........




British National Lottery
28 Tan Field Road
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

WINNING NOTIFICATION:

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Two Hundred and
Fifty Thousand Great Britain Pounds (GBP 250,000) for 2009 Prize
promotion which is organized by UK NATIONAL LOTTERY online Sweepstakes
International program .You are requested to contact our
co-ordinator with the following informations;
Full name.
country.
Address,
Telephone Number,
Occupation,
Sex
Co-ordinator's Name: BILLY SCOTT
EMAIL:claimsunit_department_09@live.co.uk
Phone:+44 70 4571 7872

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam