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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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:
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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

• 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.
  • graphics_7agents@yahoo.co.uk
  • graphicsorg1@mail.com

Fraud email example:

From: "GRAPHIC FORTUNE LOTTO" <claims_agents@37.com>
Reply-To: graphicsorg1@mail.com
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2005 13:04:13 +0200
Subject: Award Notification Of Final Notice


From: The director of the Prize Award Department
Reference number: EG/38807886091/05
Batch number: 340/1608/RDL

Re: Award Notification Of Final Notice

We are pleased to inform you of the release on the 5th OCTOBER 2005 of the result of the GRAPHICS FORTUNE LOTTO brits sweepstakes lottery International promotion UK programmes held on the 20th July Your email address attached to the ticket number 033-1146993-750 with serial number 13-15-16-21-34-36, which consequently won the lottery in the 3rd category.

You have therefore been awarded the lump sum of £1.5MILLION (ONE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND BRITISH POUNDS STERLING) in cash credited to file number EG/38807886091/05.This is from the total cash prize off £150,000,000.00(ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION BRITISH POUNDS STERLING) which is being shared among Ten international lucky winners in this category. Your funds are deposited with a security company, which will be insured in your name once you contact us.

All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 25,000 email addresses from all over the world as a part of our international promotional program, which we conduct twice annually. We hope that with a part of your prize, you will take part in our end of year high stake 3bn lottery. All prize money must be claimed no later than 14days from the date of this notice, as after this date, all funds will be returned to GRAPHICS LOTTO INTERNATIONAL as unclaimed. To file for your claim, please contact our financial agent:

MR,FRANK TERRY
CLAIMS MANAGER.
Email:graphics_7agents@yahoo.co.uk
ALTERNATIVE EMAIL:graphicsorg1@mail.com
Tel: 0044 703184 8477.
Fax: 00442-07-900-3621.
International: 0044 703184 8477.
For Further Assistant please call your international
Directory in your country
(GRAPHIC FORTUNE LOTTO)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam