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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:
  • "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.
  • +27734167999 (South Africa, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "chau Jacobs" <chaujacobs@msn.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2006 08:38:23 +0000
Subject: Lottery Results

THE FREE LOTTO COMPANY
JOHANNESBURG S.A
2nd Floor SABC
Radio Park Building
P.O. Box 91711,
Auckland Park, 2006
South Africa
www.freelotto.com

Dear Winner,

We are please to announce you as one of the 10 lucky
winners in the Free Lotto draw held on 7th January
2006.All 10 winning addresses were randomly selected from a
batch of 50,000,000 international emails from World
Wide Web site Australia, New Zealand, America, Asia,
Europe,Africa and North America. Your email address emerged
alongside 9 others as a category 2 winner in this
year's Annual Free Lotto Draw.

In view of this, your $1,500, 000.000 (One Million
Five Hundred Thousand Dollars) would be released to you by
our Claim Agent. As soon as you contact them, they will
immediately commence the process to facilitate the
release of your funds. For security reasons, you are advised
to keep your winning information confidential till your
claims are processed. Your payment will be paid to you direct
from any of our offshore office close to your country. This
is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some
unscrupulous elements. To file for your claim, please contact our Claiming
Processing Office immediately.

CONTACT AGENCY:
PIET AND PARTNERS FINANCIAL SERVICES,
West Tower, 2nd Floor,
Nelson Mandela Square
Maude St. Sandown
Johannesburg, 2146,
South Africa
Web: www.pietnpartners.co.za
Email: claims@pietnpartners.co.za
Tel: +27-73-416-7999
Fax: +27-11-507-6896

i) Winning numbers: 37-13-43-85-67-11
(ii) Email ticket number: FL754/22/76
(iii) Lotto code number: FL09622SA
(iv) The file Ref number: FL/04/736207152/SA

1. Please quote your Reference number in all correspondence with the claims
officer.

2. Winners must send their names, address, telephone
number and means of identification to claim officer, via
email or fax, to process the immediate payment of your
prize.

Once again on behalf of all our staff,

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Sincerely,

Anna davids
Promotions Manager
The Lotto Company

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam