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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:
  • "fiduciary agent" (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 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.
  • phlotouk1@yahoo.com

Fraud email example:

From: "michael clarke" <michaelclarke@one2worldd.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 15:18:21 +0000
Subject: Winning Notification


THE NATIONAL LOTTERY
P O Box 1010 LIVERPOOL, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68, Batch: 074/05/ZY369
09/20/2005
WINNING NOTIFICATION
We happily announce to you the draw (#996) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,online
Sweepstakes International program held on 20th September, 2005. Your e-mail
address attached to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial number
5368/02 drew the lucky numbers:7-20-22-23-34-37 -38, which subsequently won
you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e. match 5 plus bonus. You have
therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £1,000,000.00 (One Million
Pounds sterling only) in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/03. This is
from a total cash prize of £20,981,678 shared amongst the (21) lucky winners
in this category i.e. Match 5 plus bonus.
All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World
Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000
unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online. This
promotion takes place yearly.
Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet
representative office in Europe as indicated in your play coupon. In view of
this, your £1,000,000.00 (One Million pounds sterling only) would be
released to you by any of our payment offices in Europe.
Our European agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the
release of your funds as soon as you contact him.
For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information
confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you in
whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part of our
precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this
program. Please be warned.
You can go to our online result site to confirm the value of your winnings
and also get a prize breakdown:-
www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/results/results.do
To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent:
Patricia Hood
Email: phlotouk1@yahoo.com
Good luck from me and members of staff of the
UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. Michael Clarke
Online coordinator for UK NATIONAL LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program.
Copyright &copy; 1994-2005 The UK National Lottery Inc.
All rights reserved. Terms of Service - Guidelines

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam