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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:

• 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!

Fraud email example:

From: "kate.wesley27@virgin.net" <kate.wesley27@virgin.net>
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2005 17:45:06 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: congratulations!


Dear Winner, WINNING FINAL NOTIFICATIONWe are officially informing you of the result of theLottery Winners International programs held on the 27th of JULY 2005 as part of ourpromotional programs for the year 2005. Your e-mail address attached to ticketnumber 77007742781005-18721 with reference number 414-3721060 drew winningnumbers 7-00-71-00-66-49 and credited to batch number 121cfc, whichconsequently won in the 3rd category via our electronic ticket as stated above.You have therefore been approved for a pay out of 1,800,000.00 (One MillionEight Hundred Thousand Pounds). CONGRATULATIONS!!!Total funds have now been deposited and insured withour affiliate security firm for transfer into your nominated bank account eitherby means of wire transfers through any of our correspondent banks or any othermeans suitable to you. We also advice that you keep your winning informationvery confidential as our security policy demands to avoid doubleclaims/impersonation and unwarranted abuse of this program by some individuals. All participants were selected through a randomcomputer ballot system drawn from over 800,000 company and 1,000,000 individualemail addresses and names from all over the world. This promotional programtakes place annually and we hope with part of your winning you will take part inour next year 20 Million Pounds International Lottery. To file for your claim,you will be contacting our accounts department authorized to verify and processyour claims for your total payment (You will receive more information upon youracknowledgment of this email). This lottery is promoted and sponsored by softwarecorporations and other private organizations to help individuals generatefortunes which would encourage them to expand their business frontiersthereby creating more opportunities and assisting with humanitarian concernswithin their immediate environment. Please Note that winnings must be claimednot later than 28th of OCTOBER 2005. After this date all unclaimed funds willbeincluded in our subsequent program coming up later in 2005. In order to avoidcomplications always quote your reference number in all correspondence.Furthermore, should there be any change of address doinform us as soon as possible. Congratulations from our organization andthank you for being part of our promotional program. N.B: Anybody under the age of 18 is automaticallydisqualified from this program.Sincerely yours,Mrs Kate WesleyFREE LOTTERY PROMOTION INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPT74 CRANBOUNE ROADLONDON,UNITED KINGDOM.To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciaryagent:Thomas Wrightthomas99wright@z6.com

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam