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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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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:

• 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.
  • +447043018815 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • charleswilson008@netscape.net

Fraud email example:

From: "Paloma Williams" <paloma.williams36@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: charleswilson008@netscape.net
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 23:42:15 +0000
Subject: Prize claim

LottoPW
(Under EuroPW en LottoPW )
www.europw.com
18 Coborn Road, Docklands,
London, E3 2DA, UK.


REF NUMBER: 014/061/500
BATCH NUMBER: 962901-PCF05

Sir/Madam,
We are pleased to inform you of the result of your selection as one of the
five winners of the
International Lottery/games promotion held on the 27th of December, 2005 Tag
as "End of Season
Bonaza. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number 27522465896-6453 with
serial number
3772-554, which consequently won in the 1st category and you have therefore
been approved
for a lump sum pay out of ONE MILLION GREAT BRITAIN POUNDS (£1,000,000.00).

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

After randomly selecting over 200,000 companies and organizations as well as
2,000,000 individual
email addresses as participants from an initial database of about 2,500,000
emails, all participants were therefore selected through a computer ballot
system from the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Canada, Europe, USA and South
America as part of our International Promotions Program, which was conducted
in view of launching ourselves into the Sweepstakes Industry Worldwide and
zoning all participants by their respective continents from across the
globe. The winners are chosen by a computer-generated random lottery drawing
in which you emerged as one of the five lucky winners of the Grand Draw
prize.
This lottery was promoted and sponsored by eminent personalities like the
Sultan of Brunei, Bill
Gates and many others notable philanthropists who wish to remain anonymous.
We therefore look
forward to your active participation in this year £50 Million slot where we
shall extensively advertise and solicit for individual participation at a
minimal fee, please refer to our website for more information.
However, to process your claim please contact the clearance office via the
contact person on his
information below with your winning number as well as the reference number
for further verification.

Clearance officer,
Mr. Charles Wilson
Fax: +44 7043018815
Email: charleswilson008@netscape.net


NOTE: You are automatically disqualified if you are below 18 years of age.
For security purpose and clarity, we advise that you keep your winning
information to yourself untill your claims have 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 by some participants/winners.
Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, remember
to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all correspondence.

Sincerely yours,
Mrs. Paloma Williams
(Lottery Coordinator)


--

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam