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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:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
• 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.
  • akimjones2000@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: "mary bell" <marybelllotto@msn.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 14:30:58 +0000
Subject: Your Winning Notification.....

DEAR SIR/MADAM,

We are pleased to inform you, that as result of our Lottery DRAWS HELD on
the 27/8/2005 and anouce on 3/01/2006. Your e-mail address attached to
ticket number 27522465896-532 with
serial number 652-662 drew lucky numbers 7-14-18-23-31-45 which consequently
won in the 1st category. you have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay
of USD1.3M note that All participants in this lottery program have been
selected randomly through a computer ballot system drawn from over 200,000
companies and 400,000,000 individual email addresses from all search engines
and web sites.

This promotional program takes place every year, and is promoted and
sponsored by eminent world personalities like the (SULTAN of Brunei, Bill
Gates of microsoft inc and other corporate organisations). This is to
encourage the use of the internet and computers worldwide.For security
purpose and clarity, (we advise that you keep your winning information
confidential until your claims have been processed and your money remitted
to you.) This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claims and
unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants.We look forward to
your active participation in our next year USD500 million slot.You are
requested to contact our LOTTERY COORDINATOR:

MR.AKIM JONES
email: akimjones2000@yahoo.co.uk
www.interlottery.com

Below to assist you recieve your winnings and furnish you with any
information you may need. all winnings must be claimed not later than
5/02/2006. Please note, in order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, remember to quote your WINNING NUMBERS SERIAL numberS and
TICKET numbers in all correspondence. Furthermore, should there be any
change of address do inform our agent as soon as possible.

Congratulations once more and thank you for being part of our promotional
program. You are required to reply to this email: akimjones2000@yahoo.co.uk
for further details.

NOTE: YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED IF YOU ARE BELOW 18 YEARS OF
AGE.

Sincerely yours,
Mrs. Mary Bell.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam