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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "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.
  • +27735977530 (South Africa, 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.
  • promotiondept@websurfer.co.za

Fraud email example:

From: promotiondept@websurfer.co.za
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 16:22:49 +0200
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION

PICK WINNER ONLINE.
24 GRAYSTON ROAD, SANDTON JOHANNESBURG,
SOUTH AFRICA.
Ref No: ZAR/J0021-671/SA2005
Batch No: 002472/B8992-60

Dear Sir/Madam,
We happily announce to you today 12th January 2006, the Draw # (4 2 11 23 82 16 10) of the PICK WINNER ONLINE held recently. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 728-10185-03124-78 288 with Serial number 6712/05 drew the lucky numbers 01-05-13-267-32-05 which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e Thunderball Jackpot.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of US$2,200,000.00(Two Million, Two Hundred Thousand, United StatesDollars) in cash credited to file RPC/9080118308/04 made available from a total cash prize of US $110,000,000,00.( One Hundred And Ten Million Dollars), shared amongst the first Fifty (50) lucky winners in the second category.

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 quarterly. Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our International Booklet representative office here in South Africa as indicated in your winning numbers. Your fund is now available for claim. Due to the mix up of some numbers and email address, we request you to quote your Reference and Batch numbers. We also advice you to keep this award strictly from Public Notice until your claim has been processed. This is part of precautionary measures to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements Please be warned.

To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent in South Africa with the below details for processing of your claims.

NAME:..................................
EMAIL ADDRESS:.......................................
ADDRESS:.............................................
NATIONALITY:...........................
SEX:.........................................
AGE:.....................................
PHONE/MOBILE:..........................
FAX:...................................
OCCUPATION:....................................
COMPANY:..............................
BANK NAME:................................
A/C NUMBER:.................................
SWIFT CODE:.....................................
BATCH/WINNING NUMNBER:............................................


PLEASE YOU MUST BE 18 YEARS AND ABOVE TO CLAIM A PRIZE.

AGENT: Mr.Fred Mashaba

Email:promotiondept@websurfer.co.za

Tel: +27-73-597-7530

To avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please quote our reference/batchnumbers to any correspondences with us or our designated agent.Congratulations once more from all members and staff of this program, and thank you for being part of our promotional lottery program.

Sincerely,

Mrs.Mary Nonjabs
Zonal Coordinator.

****NB: Please keep this award strictly from Public Notice until your claim has been processed****

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam