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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:
  • "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• 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.
  • +2348029962170 (Nigeria, 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.
  • kenthomson@atmail.com

Fraud email example:

From: "lottery lottery" <lottery202@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: kenthomson@atmail.com
Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2006 09:19:11 +0000
Subject: The National Lottery




The National Lottery
PO Box 1010
Lagos Nigeria.
FROM: THE DESK OF THE DIRECTOR OF PROMOTIONS.
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRICE AWARD DEPARTMENT.
REF Nº: EGS/2251256003/02
BATCH Nº:14/0017/1PD
RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION/ FINAL NOTICE
National lottery Lagos Nigeria wishes to inform you the results of the
E-mail addresses ballot lottery international program by National lottery
Lagos Nigeria.Your email address have been picked as a winner of US$1
MILLION.

attached in the C Category lucky ball ,,,,,, and bonus ball Participants
were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from computer/internet
users from company and individual email addresses accross the world.
Be advise to keep your winning information confidential until your claims
has been processed and your money remitted to you. This is part of our
security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this
program.
All winning must be claimed not later than 29th january, 2006. After this
date all unclaimed funds will be retured to National lottery Lagos Nigeria
as unclaimed. Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications please remember to quote your reference number in all
correspondence.
You are therefore advised to give the following informations:
1. Full name and address.
2. Country.
3. Tel and fax number.
4.Occupation.
You are advised to call me on my direct telephone +234-8029962170 as soon as
you send your reply.
Congratulations from the staff and thank you for being part of email account
users program.

Yours Sincerely,

Mr.kenthomson.

Dr. P. Swier, Mr. Gerald Goodman (Manager Foreign Operations), Mr. Franklyn
Van Der Weijden (Manager Domestic Banking Operations), Dr. James Williams
(Director International Credit Department), Mrs. Sandra Murphy (Executive),
Mr. Michael Cole (Executive), Mr. Stephen Boer (Chairman).
Copyright2005: National lottery Lagos Nigeria.
RE;kenthomson@atmail.com

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam