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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 about the following email:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
• 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.
  • kenrich_sunatlanticpromo@web2mail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Andrew Kenrich" <andrew_kenrich1@msn.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 00:17:18 +0000
Subject: Winner!!

SUN-ATLANTIC PROMOTIONS
INC.


FROM THE DESK OF THE PRIZE DIRECTOR
SUN-ATLANTIC PROMOTION INC./ PRIZE AWARD DEPT
23 February 2006


LOT #JUL3159K

Dear Sir/Madam,

RE: CONGRATULATIONS AWARD NOTIFICATION (FINAL NOTICE)

Good Day! My name is, Andrew Kenrich the prize director representing the
International Lottery Promotions Claims Review Board.

Further to our email Dated January 12th in which you were informed of your
selection as the prizewinner of our quarterly US$40,000.00 Dollar award, we
are yet to receive any response from you.

Every year we enter 25,000 names from different lottery databases worldwide,
and our network indicates that you were selected as a prizewinner on July
12th 2005 and you still have not claimed your winnings for the sum of
US$40,000.00. Now we are required to notify you that if we do not hear from
you within 3 weeks from the day this e-mail is sent, your file will be
closed and you will no longer be able to claim your winnings. Usually when a
winner does not claim their money, there should be a note stating why before
we can close their file.

To elaborate further, this draw was held in British Columbia, where our head
office is located. Your lot number drew lucky numbers 6-10-13-17-24-45 that
consequently won in the 2nd category. You have therefore been approved for a
lump sum pay out of US$40,000.00 at no extra cost to yourself, from our main
payment office should you claim within 14days time frame.

Now, we would like to explain to you the Federal and International Law
governing the personal collection of cash prizes. According to the Federal
and International Law, prize winnings are released as soon as your Clearance
and local taxes have been paid. Once your clearance and local taxes have
been paid, you will receive your winnings in the form of a certified check
or should you request, by bank transfer directly into a bank account or any
account nominated by you.

For security purpose and clarity, we strongly advise that you keep your
winning information confidential until your claims have been fully 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 nominees.
So once again, Congratulations to you! For more information please contact
me in the United Kingdom through my email to
(kenrich_sunatlanticpromo@web2mail.com)

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Kenrich
SUN-ATLANTIC PROMOTIONS INC.





A FULL SERVICE PUBLIC RELATIONS AND ALLIANCE MARKETING
AGENCY

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam