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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.

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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 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.
  • freeintcoord@netscape.net

Fraud email example:

From: "Coordinator Freelotto" <freelottopromo_coord@msn.com>
Reply-To: freeintcoord@netscape.net
Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2006 02:02:26 +0000
Subject: CONG. WINNING NOTIFICATION.

MR. ANDREW GRANT.
FREE LOTTO PROMOTIONS
REF NUMBER: SLI/421/960/05
BATCH NUMBER: ST-688-SN13-05

 

Dear Winner,

We are pleased to inform you that as a result of our recent lottery draw held on
the 30th of December 2005. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number
27522465896-532 with serial number 652-662 drew lucky numbers 05-09-17-24-26-38, which consequently won in the 2nd category. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of €1,500,000.00 (One Million, Five Hundred Thousand Euros
only) Note that all participants in this lottery program have been selected randomly
through a computer ballot system drawn from over 20,000 companies and 30,000,000 individual email addresses from all search engines and websites.

 

This promotional program takes place every year, and is promoted and sponsored by
eminent personalities like the Sultan of Brunei, Bill Gates of Microsoft Inc and
other corporate organizations. 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 US$50 Million slot.

 

You are requested to contact our Lottery coordinator strictly by the email
below: freeintcoord@netscape.net. This is to assist you with your winnings and
subsequent payments immediately. All winnings must be claimed not later than one
month after the date of this notice. Please note, in order to avoid unnecessary
delays and complications, remember to quote your reference number and batch
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.

NOTE: YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED IF YOU ARE BELOW 18 YEARS OF AGE OR SEEN TO DOUBLE CLAIM THROUGH ANY OTHER COORDINATOR.

 

Sincerely yours
MR. ANDREW GRANT
(LOTTERY COORDINATOR)
freeintcoord@netscape.net

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam