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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.

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

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
• 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.
  • jamesandersoneu@uboot.com

Fraud email example:

From: "MARIA STEPHEN" <mariastephen113@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: harrymatt@uboot.com
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 09:16:26 -0800
Subject: CONTACT US FOR YOUR FUNDS***CONGRATULATIONS***

FROM THE DESK OF THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER, EUROPEAN UNION INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS  AWARD DEPARTMENT. P O Box 1010, L70 1NL Liverpool, UNITED KINGDOM (Customer Services)    Ref: FER/4690/6103/24 Batch:245-379-482 Winning No:701/RMD123                                                WINNING NOTIFICATION Attn: We happily announce to you the draw of the Bono Lottery International Program held on the 4th of October, 2005. Your name "email address" was attached to ticket number; 12324277 serial number 6663817262 This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows 2-9-22-23-24-30 bonus number 5, which consequently won the lottery in the second category. You hereby have been approved lump sum pay of £1,800,000.00 (ONE MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS) file Ref: FER/8309/1209/26 from the total cash prize of 18,000,000.00 shared amongst ten lucky winners based on their category. All participants "email address" were selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand names from Canada,Australia,United States,Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceanic as part of our international promotions program which is conducted annually. This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by some multinational companies as including Bill Gate, and some other EU governmental personalities part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they have operational base. To process your claims you are hereby advice to contact the The promotions Manager with this information: NAME:.................................. ADDRESS:............................... NATIONALITY:........................... SEX:................................... AGE:................................... PHONE/MOBILE:.......................... FAX:................................... OCCUPATION:............................ COMPANY:............................... BATCH/WINNING NUMNBER:............................................ MR.JAMES ANDERSON EUROPEAN UNION INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS Email: jamesandersoneu@uboot.com  For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid dual claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this program by non-participant or unofficial personnel. Note. Congratulations once again on your winnings!!! Best Regards MARIA STEPHENS Co-coordinator EUROPEAN UNION INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS.                                                 Yours faithfully,           MARIA STEPHEN.           Online coordinator           EUROPEAN UNION INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS,           Open 7 days 7am-7pm.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam