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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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• 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 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 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.
  • +34646730725 (Spain, prepaid mobile phone)
• 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.
  • intersweepstake@netscape.net (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: INTER SWEEP STAKE <intersweepstake@netscape.net>
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 16:46:36 +0200
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!YOU HAVE WON /FINAL NOTICE




THE UNIVERSIA FREE LOTTERY PROMOTION
Ref Number: GL/7549/524344
Batch Number: SQ-95213788

Dear Lucky Winner,

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual final draws of
the universia free lottery promotion held on, 19th May 2006.

The online cyber lotto draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 2,500,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, and Oceania as part of our International Promotions Program and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet. No tickets were sold. After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail with the following: Ticket Number: 5486623 with serial Number: 47550023 drew lucky Number: 10-17-21-23-34-39 address emerged as one of 10 winners in the category "A"
You as well as the other winner are therefore to receive a cash prize of 1,000.000.(ONE MILLION EUROS ONLY) each from the total payout of 10,000,000.00. Your prize awards has been insured with your e-mail address and will be transferred to your bank account by the paying bank upon your endoresment of the winners certificate and all offical documents relating to your won prize as a precautionary measure to ensure that payemnt are paid to the rightful winner.
To begin your claim you are advice to urgently contact the claim process officer below as all unclaim prize are nullified after 14 days from the date of this notice:
Mr. Maxwell .O. Gomez
Tel: +34-646-730-725
Email: intersweepstake@netscape.net
In your best interest and to avoid mix up of numbers and names of any kind, we request that you keep the entire details of your award strictly from public notice until the process of transferring your claims has been completed, and your funds remitted to your bank account.
This is part of our security measures to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by participants/nonparticipants of this program.
Congratulations once again.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs. Linda Cruz (Lottery Coordinator).
***************************************************************************************************
The universia lottery are proud to say that over 200 Million Euros are won annually in more than 150 countries worldwide. The Free Lotto Awards is sponsored by a consortium of software promotion companies, the Intel Group, Toshiba, Dell Computers, and other international companies. The free lotto draw is held periodically, it is organized to encourage the use of the internet and promote computer literacy worldwide.
***********************************************************************

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam