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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
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "claims 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.
  • +31626672428 (Netherlands, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "bona hensen" <lucky_winner01@msn.com>
Reply-To: mr_bonahensen@luxmail.com
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 19:57:13 +0000
Subject: PROPEROUS NEW YEAR!!!

FROM THE DESK OF THE DIRECTOR INTERNATIONAL PRIZE
 AWARD DEPT
 
 Attn Lucky Winner,
 
 WINNING NOTIFICATION FOR CATEGORY "A" WINNER ONLY
 
 We are pleased to inform you of the result of the
 last final annual draw of our Lottery International
 Programs.
 
 The online cyber lotto draws was conducted from an
 exclusive list of 25,000,000 e-mail addresses of
 individual and corporate bodies picked by an
 advanced automated random computer search from the
 internet. No tickets were sold.
 
 CONGRATULATIONS!!!
 
 After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail
 address emerged as a winner in the category "A" with
 
 the following numbers attached Ref Number: PW 9590
 ES 9414,Batch Number: 573881545-NL/2005
 and Ticket Number: PP 3502 /8707-01
 
 You are therefore to receive a cash prize of
 $1,500,000.00. (One Million Five Hundred Thousand
 United States Dollars) from the total payout
 CONGRATULATIONS!!!. Your prize award has been
 insured
  with your e-mail address and will be transferred to
 you upon meeting our requirements, statutory
 obligations, verifications, validations and
 satisfactory report.
 
 To file in for the processing of your prize
 winnings, you are advised to contact our Certified
 and
 Accredited claims agent for category "A" winners
 with the information below:
 *************************************
 Name: Bona Hensen
 Phone: +316 2667 2428
 Email:mr_bonahensen@luxmail.com
 *************************************
 You are advice to provide him with the following
 information:
 
 Names:
 Telephone/Fax number:
 Nationality:
 Age:
 
 NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 14
 days, thereafter unclaimed funds would be included
  in the next stake. Remember to quote your reference
 information in all correspondence.
 
 You are to keep all lotto information confidential,
 especially your reference and ticket numbers.
 (This is important as a case of double claims will
 not be entertained).Members of the affiliate
 agencies
 are automatically not allowed to participate in this
 program.
 
 Furthermore, should there be any change of address
 do inform our agent as soon as possible.
 Congratulations once more from our members of staff
 and thank you for being part of our promotional
 program.
 
 Yours Faithfully,
 Walter Jones.
 Lottery Coordinator.
 
 Thank you and congratulations

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam