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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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary 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.
  • +447040129409 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "UK LOTTERY NOTIFICATION" <uklotterynotification3@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: uklotterynotification3@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 06:41:54 -0700
Subject: CONGRATULATION

THE NATIONAL LOTTERY
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

Dear Sir,

We happily announce to you the draw (#514 ) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,
online weepstakes International program held on Draw 514 Sat 15 Oct 05
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial
number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers: 21-25-26-33-42-43 (bonus no.14),
which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e match 5 plus
bonus.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £1,500,000{One
Million Five Hundred Thousand Great Britain pounds sterlings) in cash
credited to file TU/9023118308/03. This is from a total cash prize of
£54,000,000 {Fifty Four Million Great Britain pounds sterlings} shared
amongst the {36} lucky winners in this category i.e Match 5 plus bonus.
All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World
Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000
unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online. This
promotion takes place weekly. Please note that your lucky winning number
falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe as
indicated in your play coupon.

In view of this, your £1,500,000 {One Million Five Hundred thousand Great
Britain pounds sterlings) would be released to you by any of our payment
offices in Europe.
Our European agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the
release of your funds as soon as you contact him. For security reasons, you
are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims
is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit
to claim your prize.

This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and
unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned.
To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent: MRS JANE SHEARER
You can go to our online result site to confirm the value of your winnings
and also get a prize breakdown:-
www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/results/results.do

Goodluck from the staff of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.
Yours faithfully,

EDWARD FRANKLIN
Coordinator for UK NATIONAL LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program
Tel: +447040129409

Fax: +447092865823

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam