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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• 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:
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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:

• 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.
  • +447024071543 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
  • +448704904957 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "You Won" <personelofficers@msn.com>
Reply-To: sergey91@excite.com
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2006 05:53:47 +0000
Subject: You Won!!!!!!

		GAMELAND LOTTO INTERNATIONAL PRIZE AWARD DEPT. REF Number:   ALH/231-ILGI0431/06 BATCH No:    IMYK/15/096/EGI TICKET No:    20611465897-6291 SERIAL No:    472-971103 LUCKY No:    8-66-97-22-71-64 RE: WINNING FINAL NOTIFICATION   Dear Lucky Winner,   We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Lottery Winners International programs held on the 20th January, 2006 Your E-mail address attached to Ticket number 20611465897-6291 with Serial number 472-971103 drew the lucky numbers 8-66-97-22-71-64, which consequently won in the 1st category, you have therefore been approved for a lump sum payout of US$ 1,000 000.00 (one million  United States Dollars). This is from a total cash prize of USD$10,000,000.00  shared amongst  ten International Lucky Winners in the Category one CONGRATULATIONS!!!   This lottery is a promotional program by EARTHLINK  in collaboration with GAMELAND INTERNATIONAL,LONDON  (a new lottery Organization in the United Kingdom) to advertise to the world its existence. All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from over 50,000 companies and 2,000,000 individual email addresses from all over the world, as part of our international promotions program, which we intend to conduct several times a year.   Be informed that your documents have to pass our authority to obtain a clearance,which shall be attached to your document in readiness of the subsequent onward transfer into your nominated bank account with 24 hours of completion of the authentication.   Due to the possibility of unscrupulous individuals filing a double claim,we suggest that you keep this award strictly confidential until your claim has been processed and notarized and your certificate of award obtained. This is in conformity with the lottery claim regulations by our Organization & the United Kingdom Gaming Control Board. This is part of our security protocol measures to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants/non participants. All winnings must be claimed not later thantwo weeks of this notice. After this date all unclaimed funds will be included in the next stake. To file for your claim, please contact your processing agent: Mr. Terry John Email: agentterry@earthlink.net fax.+44870 490 4957 tel.+44702 407 1543 NOTE: All winnings must be notarized and a certificate of award must be obtained from the United Kingdom Gaming Control Board to complete the claims process,this certificate can only be obtained through legal representation so winners will be referred to a lawyer to assist in this process. Winners are to  cover the legal charges for the notarization of the claims form and the acquisition of the certificate of award. In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please do forward your Tel/Fax number to your processing agent. So you are to act fast in the claiming of your funds, for delays will compel us to disperse your funds,in other words, we shall divert your funds as stated above. Kindly remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all correspondence.Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform our/your agent as soon as possible. Finally, we call on you to make sure that you note every letter clearly as stated for we will not be held responsible should there be any complications in the process due to laxity on your part. Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for being part of our promotional program.  Sincerely,     Robert Allen  Lotto Coordinator This is an Administrative Message from EarthLink/Gameland Lotto. It is not spam or scam. From time to time, EarthLink will send you such messages in order to communicate important information about Gameland Lottery.Donot reply this mail,contact your claim processing agent

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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam