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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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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")
  • "claims 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!
• Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
• 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.
  • raymondho1234@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: "Linda Bode" <linda_bode123@msn.com>
Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2005 17:02:46 +0000
Subject: Winning Notification

The National Lottery
P O Box 1010,
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
Date:01-10-2005.

(Customer Services)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

Winning Notification:

We happily announce to you the draw (#1020) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,
online Sweepstakes International Program held on Tuesday 1st October 2005,
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial
number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers: 04-06-31-42-46 (bonus number. 11),
which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category; which matched 5
numbers plus the bonus number.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £243,306.00 (Two
Hundred and Forty Three Thousand, Three Hundred and Six Pounds Sterling
Only) in cash credited to file
KTU/9023118308/03.

This is from a total cash prize of £1,703,142.00 (One Million Seven Hundred
and Three Thousand, One Hundred and Forty Two Pounds Sterling Only), shared
amongst the Seven (7) lucky winners in this category second category 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 weekly.

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 £243,306.00 (Two Hundred and Forty Three Thousand, Three Hundred
and Six Pounds Sterling Only) would be released to you by any of our payment
offices in Europe.

Your Claims 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 claim 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. We also like to
acknowledge our sponsors, Crystal Finance and Security, Global Bank
International, Barclays Bank, HSBC, Fedex, DHL, UPS and Western Union.

To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent:

Mr. Raymond Ho
Tel: 0044 797 901 6412
Email: raymondho1234@yahoo.co.uk

Contact via email at anytime, or call him within the hour of 8.30am - 6.00pm
mondays to fridays UK time

CONGRATULATIONS FROM UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.

Yours sincerely,
Mrs. Linda Bode (PhD)
Online coordinator for UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, Sweepstakes International Online
Program.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam