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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) 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.
  • libertysegurossa@aim.com

Fraud email example:

From: "Microsoft Spain Lottery" <microspainlottery@msn.com>
Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2006 12:25:16 +0000
Subject: YOUR EMAIL WON IN OUR 2006 INTERNATIONAL EMAIL LOTTERY PROGRAMS.

MICROSOFT SPAIN EMAIL/INTERNET INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY.
FROM: INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD DEPT.

REF: MICRO/4343/SOFT/06
BATCH: 2006/272/MD/SP

Attn: Winner,

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Microsoft Spain
Email/Internet International Lottery programs held on the 10th of January
2006.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Due to mix up of some names and numbers, your funds has been deposited and
covered with insurance bond policy in our affiliated Finance/Insurance
company(LIBERTY SEGUROS S.A). We ask that you 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 by some participants.

HOW WAS IT SELECTED/PLAYED?

All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from
over 100,000 company and 50,000,000 individual email addresses and names
from all over the world, so luckily for you, your E-mail address attached to
ticket number 3745931-009 with lucky main number 07 11 14 26 47 drew lucky
star numbers 02 08, which consequently won in the 2nd category, you have
therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of €500,000.00. (Five Hundred
Thousand Euros).

This lottery was promoted and sponsored by Microsoft Spain, one of the
Europe largest software company inorder to enhance and promote the use of
Internet Explorer Users and microsoft-wares around the globe. This
promotional program takes place every three year.

To claim your funds, please do contact our affiliated Finance/Insurance
company(LIBERTY SEGUROS S.A) with the contact details below for the
processing/concluding of your funds:

MR. MICHEL THOMAS (LIBERTY SEGUROS S.A).
Email: libertysegurossa@aim.com

Remember, all winnings must be claimed not later than 10th of Febuary 2006.
After this date all unclaimed funds will be included in the next stake.
Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications please
remember to quote your REFERENCE NUMBER and BATCH NUMBER in all
correspondence to LIBERTY SEGUROS S.A along with your FULL NAMES.
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 promotion program. Note: Anybody under the age of 18 is
automatically disqualified.

Sincerely yours,

Mrs. Mirabell S. Martinez.
Lottery Coordinator.

NOTE. CONTACT IMMEDIATELY LIBERTY SEGUROS S.A. FOR YOUR CLAIM WITH THEIR
CONTACT DETAILS ABOVE AND FOLLOW THEIR PROCEDURES/INSTRUCTIONS.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam