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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
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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 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.
  • +27734619909 (South Africa, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "claim office" <claim_department2010@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 16:24:09 +0200
Subject: RE: email


Dear Mr.Amarjit,

Congratulations once again! I will like to inform you that there is nothing
like scam or what so ever so you are advice to forward to us your winning
numbers and batch numbers informations,so that we can be able to cross check
with our own winning file in our table before we can be able to tell you
what next to do to claim your winning fund.

We need your telephone number and fax number so that we can fax some
necessary documents that will enable you to claim your winning fund. Remeber
to send your photocopy of your international passport.

Congratulations once again! You can call me on +27 734619909.


Yours Sincerely,

Mr.John Vusi.
+ 27 734619909.

_________________________________________________________________
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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam