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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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

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:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
• 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.
  • +6651362746 (Thailand, probably a mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "GreenCasinos & Maurilyn Lotteries," <maurilynlotteriesnl@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 15:53:08 +0700
Subject: CONTACT OUR ASIAN PRIZE AWARD DEPT

GreenCasinos & Maurilyn Lotteries,
Corporate Headquarters: Maliebaan 38-40, 3581CR,
Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Dear Sir/Madam,
Congratulations!
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the GreenCasinos & Maurilyn Lotteries Inc. programs, held on the 8th, of October 2005, which drew a cash prize of $1,000,000.00. Your e-mail address attached to Ticket/Code number 0087411652337 with claim/reference number 085093785/92 drew these lucky numbers 007-49746-041-764-64-2091, which consequently won in the 1st category. You have been approved to receive a cash prize of $1,000,000.00 (One Million USD).
Be advised that due to incessant mix up in cash prize transfer to previous winners, we advise that you keep your winning information confidential until your claim has been processed and released to you. This security measure is critical; its a measure put in place to avoid double claims, transfer and unwarranted abuse of this program by other participants.
METHOD OF SELECTING WINNERS:
Participants were selected anonymously through a private ballot system (computer ballot) from over 35,000 companies and 70,000 individual e-mail addresses all over the world. At the final draw your e-mail address emerged as the winner of our last jackpot. This promotional program takes place bi-annually, and it was organized by our group of philanthropists promoted and sponsored by multinationals like Microsoft Inc and Orient software corporation (Orient Networks) It is met to reward some individuals and corporations who have devoted their time and resources surfing the world wide web (www) with their email addresses and the use of computer software and for the benefit of every Microsoft user.
Remember, all winning must be claimed not later than 10 working days from today. After the expiration of that time frame, if your funds are unclaimed, it will be refunded to us and included in our next draws.We hope you will use part of your cash prize to participate in our next
$18million draws in March 2006.
Note that your lucky winning number falls within our Asian booklet representative office in Asia as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your $1,000,000.00 (One million dollars ) would be released to you by any of our payment office in Asia. Our Asian agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him.
Lastly, in order to avoid unnecessary delays/complications with the transfer of your funds to you, please always remember to quote your Code number in all correspondence with our paying bank ( Bangkok Thailand ). Furthermore, should there be any change of your present address, please notify us immediately so to make the appropriate adjustment.
Congratulations from the management and staffs of GreenCasinos & Maurilyn Lotteries.Thank you for being part of our promotional program.
-----------------------------------------------------
For your payment advice.Send them following
I……………(your names)…….., contact address……Contact telephone and fax numbers …..(postal address)…….and code number:……….(quote your code number)…….is the winner of the last Applecrest & Grant Lottery draws, with a cash prize of $1,000,000.00. Kindly advise me with details of the process of the transfer of my cash prize within the next
10-working days.
For immediate release of your cash prize to you, please kindly contact our Paying Bank ( United Union Bank )

Contact details of our ASIAN PRIZE/AWARD DEPT/PAYING BANK
Contact person: Engr Albert Lim
Department of Private Banking,
United Union Bank ,Thailand
EMAIL: albert_lim1956@walla.com
TEL: 00(66) 6 121 75 53
Fax +66-51362746

Congratulations.
Yours in services,
Mrs Wendy Frederic.
(Lottery Coordinator)
Sweepstakes International Program
Note: Participants below 21 years are automatically disqualified.
All e-mail transmission/correspondence are 100% protected by our Secure Socket Layer (SSL) server.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam