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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 by the Scam-O-Matic 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:
  • "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash)
• 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.
  • +447024093465 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • marinshua@katamail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "AMBROSE MICHEAL" <micambrose@gmail.com>
Reply-To: marinshua@katamail.com
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 06:02:10 -0700
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!!


UK-LOTTO ORGANIZATION
Ticket Free/Online Winnings and Notification
Department
Online winnings dept.
Ref Number: UK/9420X2/68
Batch Number: 074/05/ZY369
Telephone: +447024093465

WINNINGS NOTIFICATION OF US$4.2M

We happily announce to you the draw of the Uk-Lotto Sweepstake Lottery
International programs held in Bangkok-Thailand on the 2nd of May, 2006 .
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial
number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers:07-12-23-26-29-44 which subsequently
won you the lottery in the first category. You have
therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £2,367,834(Two million,
three hundred and sixty seven thousand, eight hundred and thirty four
British Pounds sterling) which is approximately USD4.2m, from total cash
prize of £23,678,340 was shared amongst the first Ten (10) lucky winners in
this
category.

All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web site through
computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 companies.

The World Pak Express Courier has been given the Contract to deliver all our
winners cheque to the address of the respective winners.
WORLD PAK EXPRESS COURIER THAILAND COMPANY LTD
Rachadaphisek Bangkok, Thailand.
Contact Agent: MARTIN HUA (Director of Operations and Logistics) Email
address: marinshua@katamail.com

Should you want your winning fund to be paid by cash/wired to your Bank
account, Endevour to state this accordingly in your responce to the contact
Agent MARTIN HUA for necessary attention.

To avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please quote your full
names,telephone number, Age and occupation, Winnings numbers [such as
batch,ref, serial and lucky winning number],your country and address where
you want to receive your winnings cheque in your contact mail to MARTIN HUA


Congratulations once more from all members and staffs of this program and
thank you for being part of our promotional lottery programm.For safety
measures and to avoid fruadulent claims you are adviced to keep all about
your winnings information and notification confidential and away from all
third parties till your check arrives your address.

Congratulations once more from all the members and staffs of this
program.

Goodluck.

AMBROSE MICHEAL
Online Co-ordinator/Notification Officer
Sweepstakes International Program.
Telephone:+447024093465

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam