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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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:
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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:
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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.
  • +34618470802 (Spain, prepaid mobile phone)
• 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.
  • elmundo@zwallet.com
  • megatrust@excite.com

Fraud email example:

From: EL MUNDO INTERNATIONAL LOTTO <info-elmundo@zwallet.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 20:33:59 +0200
Subject: Your prize Award Notification-Congratulation!!!


EL MUNDO INTERNATIONAL LOTTO COMMISSION
GOVERNMENT ACCREDITED LICENSED LOTTERY PROMOTERS.
PLAZA DE COLON E- 28830,MADRID-SPAIN.
TEL:+34 618 470 802
FAX:+34 657 197 922
EMAIL:info-elmundo@zwallet.com

FROM THE DESK OF THE MANAGING DIRECTORINTERNATIONAL PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD DEPT.

REF/EG/W10862/05
BATCH/028921 4681XL


RE:BONUS LOTTERY PROMOTIONPRIZE AWARDS WINNING NOTIFICATION

Dear Lucky Winner,

We are pleased to inform youof the result of the just concluded final draws of EL MUNDO INTERNATIONALLOTTERY AWARD held on the 29th July,2005. The online cyber lotto draws wasconducted from an exclusive list of 25,000 e-mail addresses of individual andcorporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search fromthe internet in appreciation of our annual summer visitors to Spain. Notickets were sold.

Your name attached to theticket number 009280-0021-4983-992-ZX1 with serial number 209363-90748 drewthe lucky numbers AAX80-44-15036-55--34-9067 which consequently won the lotteryin the 3rd category.

After this automatedcomputer ballot, your e-mail address emerged as one of two winners in thecategory "B" with the following:

You as well as the otherwinner are therefore to receive a cash prize of 2,800,809:00 ( Two Million,Eight Hundred Thousand, Eight Hundred And Nine Euros Only) each from the totalpayout prize.

Your prize awards has beeninsured with your e-mail address pending when your full names and address willbe known to us, and thereafter,your winning fund will be transfered to you uponmeeting our requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations andsatisfactory report.

To begin your claim,pleasecontact below your claim agent the foreign service manager of MEGA TRUSTSEGURIDAD S.A

Tel:+34 675 165 960
Fax:+34 911 414 237
Email:info-megatrust@excite.com
Contact Person: Raul Gomez

And also be informed that10% of your lottery winning belongs to (IBERO PROMOTION COMPANY S,A.) Becausethey are the company that bought your ticket and played the lottery on yourname, NOTE this 10% will be remitted after you have received your winningsprize because the money is insured in your name already.

NOTE: All winnings must beclaimed not later than the 28th October,2005. After this date, all unclaimedfunds will be included in the next stake. Remember to quote your referenceinformation in all correspondences. You are to keep all lottery informationsaway from the general public especially your reference and ticket numbers. Thisis important as a case of double claims will not be entertained.

Congratulations!!!

Yours faithfully,
Jose Carlos Anderson

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam