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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.
  • +447040115704 (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.
  • smith_ken2005@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: "UK NATIONAL LOTTERY" <uk_lotto_uk@hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 04 Feb 2006 09:24:56 +0100
Subject: YOU ARE WINNER OF UK LOTTERY

YOU ARE WINNER OF UK LOTTERY
National Lottery Headquarters:
Customer Service
an Affiliate of watergate inc.
28 TANFIELD ROAD,
CROYDON.LONDON
Ref: EAASL/941OYI/02
Batch: 12/25/DC34

WINNING NOTIFICATION:

We happily announce to you the draw of the National
Sweepstake Lottery International programs held on the of Jan
29th,2006 in London.Your Name and e-mail address attached to
ticket number: 564 75600545188 with Serial number 5388/02
drew the lucky numbers: 31-6-26-13-35-7,which subsequently
won you the lottery in the 2nd category.
You are therefore, been approved to claim a total sum of
£2,500,000.00(Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Pound) in
cash credited to file KPC/9080118308/02.This is from a total
cash prize of £125 Million pound.

Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our
European booklet representative office in Europe as
indicated in our play coupon.

In view of this, your £2,500,000.00(Two Million Five
Hundred Thousand Pound)would be released to you by our
affiliate bank in London.Our agent will immediately commence
the process to facilitate the release of your funds to you
as soon as you make contact with him .

All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web
site through computer draw system and extracted from over
100,000 companies.This promotion takes place annually. For
security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning
information confidential till your claims is processed and
your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit
to claim your prize. This is a part of our precautionary
measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of
this program by some unscrupulou elements.

Please be warned.To file for your claim, please contact The
Officer incharges with the below details for processing of
your claims.

OFFICER:MR.SMITH KEN,FINANCIAL DIRECTOR
EMAIL: smith_ken2005@yahoo.co.uk
<mailto:smith_ken2005@yahoo.co.uk>
Tel:+44-704-011-5704


To avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please quote
your reference/batch numbers in any correspondences with us
or our designated agent.Congratulations once more from all
members and staffs of this program.Thank you for being part
of our promotional lottery program.

Sincerely,

MS MARY WHITE

EURO-ASIAN-USA Zonal Coordinator.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam