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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:
  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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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.
  • +27735098233 (South Africa, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: intercape555za@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 17:21:25 +0200
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!

OVERSEAS STAKES SOUTH AFRICA.
OFFICE: 8-10 FREE TOWN AVE, PLOT: 328
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA.
Tel +27-73-5098-233
REF NUMBER;OSL/653/029/03
BATCH NUMBER; AT-040-SB06-03

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Dear Sir/madam,

We are pleased to inform you, that as a result of our recent lottery draws held on 2nd June 2006.Your email address attached to ticket number 27522465896-532 with serial number 652-662 drew lucky number 7-14-18-23-31-45 which consequently won 2nd category.

You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of Euro10,500,000.00 (Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand Euro).

Note:

ALL participants in this lottery program have been selected randomly through a computer ballot system drawn from over 20,000 companies and 30,000,000 individual email addresses from all search engines and web sites.

This promotional program takes place every year, and is promoted and sponsored by eminent personalities like the sultan of Brunei, Bill Gates Have Microsoft Inc, Multi Choice and other corporate organisations. This is to encourage the use of the Internet and computers worldwide.

For security purpose and clarity, we advise that you keep your winning information’s confidential until your claims have been 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 participants. We look forward to your active participant in our next year USD50 Million slot.

You are requested to contact our clearance officer below to assist you with your winning and subsequent payments. All winning must be claim not later than two months After the date of this notice. Please note, in order to avoid unnecessary delay and complications remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all correspondence.

Furthermore, should there be any change of addresses do inform our agent as soon as possible.Congratulations once more and thank you for being part of our promotional program. Please take note that all reply should be addressed to the above email.

NOTE; YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED IF YOU ARE BELOW 18 YEARS OF AGE.

To process your claims you are hereby advice to contact the Claim Agent immediatly with this information:

FULL NAME:..................................
FULL ADDRESS:...............................
NATIONALITY:................................
SEX:........................................
AGE:........................................
PHONE/MOBILE:...............................
FAX:........................................
OCCUPATION:.................................
COMPANY:...N/A..............................
BANK DETAILS INFO...........................
BATCH/NUMNBER:..............................
WINNING NUMBER:.............................
TICKET NUMBER:..............................
SERIAL NUMBER:..............................
REFERENCE NUMBER:...........................

Sincerely yours,
Mr Innocent Carlos.

THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
OVERSEAS STAKES LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL.


OVERSEAS STAKES LOTTERY GOES INTERNATIONAL AS THE 2010 WORLD CUP WILL BE HOSTED BY SOUTH AFRICA. THIS PROGRAM IS SPONSURED BY: SOUTH AFRICAN LOTTO AUTHORITY. AND SUPPORTED BY: (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) FIFA SUPPORT AFRICAN.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam