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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:

• 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.
  • +447031965092 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "pascal edward" <pedwardn@msn.com>
Reply-To: pascaledward@uku.co.uk
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 03:06:34 +0000
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS

THE FREE LOTTO COMPANY
UK OFFICE
SUITE 23-30,LION TOWERS
CENTRAL LONDON
ENGLAND
www.freelotto.com

Dear Winner,
My name is Pascal Edward , and on behalf of FREE LOTTO COMPANY OF UNITED
KINGDOM,I wish to comgratulate you as
one of the 10 lucky winners in the FreeLotto draw held on the 30TH September
2005. All 10
winning addresses were randomly selected from a batch of 50,000,000
international mails.Your email address emerged alongside 9 others as a 2nd
category winner in this year's Annual FreeLotto Draw.Consequently,you have
therefore been approved for a
total pay out of 1,000,000 USD (One million USD only).The following
particulars are
attached to your lotto payment order:
(i) Winning numbers: 37-13-43-85-67-11
(ii) Email ticket number: FL754/22/76
(iii) Lotto code number: FL09622UK
(iv) The file Ref number: FL/04/736207152/UK
Please contact the underlisted claims officer as soon as possible for the
immediate
release of your winnings:

MR.WALTER SMITH
MIDLAND FINANCIAL SERVICES
LTD.
BRIDGE ROAD STOKESLEY
MIDDLESBOROUGH CLEVELAND
TS9 5AA UNITED KINGDOM
TEL:+447031965092
FAX +447075055140
EMAIL: claims_officer02@msn.com

Once again on behalf of all our staff, CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Sincerely,
Pascal Edward

This email notification is auto-generated its contents
are valid for only two weeks and it is unmonitored so do not reply.

******************************
*****************************
The FreeLotto Awards is proudly sponsored by the Microsoft Corporation,the
Intel Group,Toshiba, Dell computers,Mackintosh and a Conglomerate of other
international IT companies.The freelotto internet draw is held once in a
year and is so organized to encourage the use of the internet and
computers worldwide.We are proud to say that over 200 Million Pounds are won
annually in more than 150 countries worldwide.We also encourage you to visit
our website at www.freelotto.com and take your chance to play and become
part of our daily winners.Millions are won on a daily
basis on one of the world's most famous .


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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam