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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 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.
  • c_agent505@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: "George Mattew" <worldwidepromolottery2005@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2005 20:46:35 +0000
Subject: CONGRATULATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are pleased to inform you, THAT AS A RESULT OF OUR
RECENT LOTTERY DRAWS HELD on the 10th of October 2005.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number
27522465896-532 with serial number 652-662 drew lucky
numbers 7-14-18-23-31-45 which consequently won in the
2nd category. you have therefore been approved for a
lump sum pay out of 1,000,000 (DOLLARS) (ONE MILLION
DOLLARS).
Note that All participants in this lottery program
have been selected randomly through a computer ballot
system drawn from over 20,000 companies and 30,000,000
individual email addresses from all search engines and
web sites. This promotional program takes place every
year, and is promoted and sponsored by eminent
personalities like the Sultan of Brunei, bill gates of
microsoft inc and other corporate organisations. this
is to encourage the use of the internet and computers
worldwide.
To enable us file in your name for payment,please do
provide the following informations:
1,YOUR FULL NAME: ................
2,YOUR SEX:..................
3,YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER .........
4,YOUR FAX NUMBER:...............
5,YOUR OCCUPATION:....................
6,YOUR COMPANY: ................
7,YOUR AGE:..........
8,Country:..........................
9,YOUR REF NUMBER:............
Please I'd like to know how you want to receive your prize
won of
US$1Million,choose
from the following medium.
1,By Cheque/Draft
2,Cash
3,Bank Wire Transfer.
You are to send all the infomation to the lottery office.
E-mail: c_agent505@yahoo.co.uk
Congratulations once again.
THANKS
LOTTERY OFFICE.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam