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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.

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 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.
  • claimsagent_adams@excite.com

Fraud email example:

From: "British Lottery Promo 2006" <britishonline_02@msn.com>
Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2006 01:41:58 +0000
Subject: YOU ARE A LUCKY WINNER (CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT)

BRITISH LOTTERY HEADQUARTERS
CUSTOMER SERVICE,
**********************************************
14 BALHAM ROAD,
FULHAM. LONDON
**********************************************
Ref: EAASL/941OYI/02/SHYN
Batch: 12/25/0034

RE: WINNING NOTIFICATION

We happily announce to you the draw of the British
Lottery International programs held on the 14th March
2006 in London. Your e-mail address attached to
ticket number: 564 75600545 188 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 have therefore been approved to claim
a total sum of £ 1,500,000,00 (One Million Five Hundred
thousand British Pounds) in cash credited to file
KPC/9080118308/02/SHYN. This is from a total cash prize
of £30,000,000.00 GBP Million pounds shared amongst the first
twenty (20) lucky winners in this category.

This year Lottery Program Jackpot is the largest ever
for British Lottery. The estimated £ 30 million jackpot
would be the sixth-biggest in U.K. history. The biggest
was the £ 30 million jackpot that went to two winners
in a May 2000 drawing of The Big Game Mega Millions'
predecessor.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 £ 1,500,000,00 (One Million Five Hundred thousand Great
British Pounds) 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 .

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. a
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 unscrupulous elements.

Note that all claims process and clearance procedures must
be duly completed early to avoid impersonation arising to
the issue of double claim.To avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, please quote your reference/batch numbers in
any correspondences with us.

You are to get back to us through this E-mail address at
claimsagent_adams@excite.com for your claims officer to
start Processing your winning.

Congratulations once more from all members and staffs of
this program. Thank you for being part of our promotional
lottery program.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs.Teresa Cole
British Lottery Coordinator.

---

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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam