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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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• 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.

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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.
  • zuma@hotmail.com

Fraud email example:

From: "GLOBAL LOTTERY" <global_za@msn.com>
Date: Sat, 08 Oct 2005 14:48:07 +0000
Subject: LOTTERY WINNING NOTIFICATION

Customer Service: 480 NCA1068
Ref: ZAWC/2010/WWW/04
Batch: 14/8052/DC04
Attention 4th Category,

CONGRATULATIONS! LOTTERY WINNING NOTIFICATION

We happily announce to you the draw of the South African 2010 World Cup
Sweepstake Lottery Promotion Programs held on the 29th of september, 2005 in
Zurich, Switzerland. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:
B75904546 220 with Serial number: 60124 drew the winning: 04/07/24/25/40/42
which subsequently won you the lottery in the 4th category. You have
therefore been approved to claim a total sum of USD$1,200,000.00(One
Million, Two Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) in cash credited to
file ZA/621825/04.

This is from a total cash prize of USD$120,000,000(One hundred Million,Two
hundred thousand United States Dollars) shared amongst the first 100(One
Hundred)lucky winners in this category world-wide. Please note that your
lucky winning numbers falls within our Afro booklet representative office in
Southern Africa as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your
winnings of US$1,200,000.00(One Million, Two Hundred Thousand United States
Dollars) will be remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim
your prize. Our corresponding office/agent in Southern Africa will
facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact them.
All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn and
extracted from over 100,000 e-mail ID of individuals and companies on the
world wide web sites to promote South Africa's 2010 World Cup Award. For
security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information
confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you.

This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and
unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous people. PLEASE BE
WARNED.
To file for your claim, please contact our Snr. Claims Manager, Mr. Michael.
C. Zuma immediately you read this message for quick and urgent release of
your winnings. Find below his contact details thus:
E-mail: michael_20_zuma@hotmail.com,

Please be informed that all winning must be claimed on or before 29th
october, 2005.
Always quote your reference/batch numbers in any correspondences with our
designated office/agents or us.
Congratulations!
Adele Venter

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam