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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:
  • "@lawyer.com" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
• 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.
  • samueld@lawyer.com

Fraud email example:

From: "world loto2006" <world_loto_2006@hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 07 Jan 2006 15:45:17 +0000
Subject: urgent

ATTN: The Manager

Congratulations on your winning. All participants were selected
randomly from World
wide Web site through computer ballot system extracted from over
100,000 companies and individuals.This promotion
takes place annually.

Your email address attached to ticket number :56475600545188 with
serial number :5388/02 drew the lucky
numbers 31-6-26-13-35-7, which subsequently won you the lottery in the
second category.

You have therefore won £847,000.39 (Eight Hundred and Fourty seven Thousand
Pounds Thirty Nine Cents) in the second category of the lottery. You are
required to forward the following details to help facilitate the processing
of your certificate and the release of your
winnings

1. Full names.
2. Residential address.
3. Phone number
4. A scanned identification of yourself sent via email
5. Occupation

You are adviced to forward these informations as soon as possible to
enable us attend to your file.
Please note that your funds have been deposited safely in our offshore
payment office in europe and your
information will be forwarded to them before they can release your
winnings.You are also to choose the mode which you
want to collect your funds:

PAYMENT OPTIONS.i. Travel down to personally collect it from our agent.
ii.This is for those who can not travel we will process the
winnings
and then package and send it via courier service but
you will have to PAY FOR THE SERVICES. You are to contact
Mr. Samuel Damon
Financial Agent
samueld@lawyer.com

Once again, congratulations.
Yours sincerely,
sarah

PROTOCOLS AND GRAND [FOR OVERSEAS LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL].
NB:PLEASE INDICATE A PAYMENT OPTION Congratulations you have won £3.5m
in loto

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam