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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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
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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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• 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.
  • julralph@yahoo.fr (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: <ukstakelottery1@apropo.ro>
Date: Tue, 07 Feb 2006 04:52:31 +0200
Subject: CONGRATULATION

OVERSEAS STAKE LOTTERY
INTERNATIONAL UK.
BATCH  NUMBER : AT-040SB06-03
 
Attention: Winner
 
We  are  pleased  to  inform  you  that  as  a  result  of  our  recent  lottery  draw  held  on  the  18th  December 2005,  your  email  address  attached  to ticket  number  27522465896  with  serial  number  652-662  draw   lucky  numbers  7-14-18-23-31-45  which consequently  won  the  2nd  category  for  a lump  sum pay  out  of  1,000.000.00  (Euro)  (ONE MILLION  EURO). 
 
Note  that  all  participants in  this  lottery  program have  been  selected  randomly  through  a complete  ballot  system  drawn  from  over  20,000  companies  and  30,000  individual  email   addresses  from  all  search  engine  and  website. 
 
This  programme  takes  place  every  year  and  is  promoted  and sponsored  by  eminent  personalities  like  the  Sultan  of  Brunei, Bill  gate  of  Microsoft  inc and other Corporate Organizations.  This is  to  encourage  the  use  of  the  internet  worldwide.
 
For  security  purpose  and  clarity, we  advise  that  you  keep  you  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.
 
As a result of too many winners we are treating on hand and also making ways on how they can catch their winning money, so therefore you are requested to contact our clearance officer in Benin Republic West Africa to assist you with  your winnings and subsequent  payments. All winning must be claimed not later than one week after the date of this notice.
 
Below is the contact of our clearance officer in Benin Republic West Africa.
 
Name:Julius Ralph 
Email: julralph@yahoo.fr
 
To avoid delay in claiming your winning fund you are therefore needed to forward to the below information.

1)Your full names and address
2)Country of origin/home address
3)Tel/fax line.
4)Your ticket num and serial number.
 
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  program. 
 
Your Sincerely,
Elizabeth Mcknight.
(LOTTERY SECRETARY)

- http://www.apropo.ro/

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam