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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:

• 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 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.
  • claimsofficer101@netscape.net (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "paul_scoth01@mail2world.com" <paul_scoth01@mail2world.com>
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2006 16:38:22 -0700
Subject: Dear Consolation Prize Winner,


Sir/Madam


*NOTICE OF CONSOLATION PRIZE WINNING*

This email confirms that you have been notified of by the DE GOLDSTAR
E-GAMES LOTTO BV DE Netherlands of your email lottery winning for 2006
GOLDSTAR LOTTO - Wheel E-game held on 16th July 2006.

We wish to congratulate you on the selection of your email coupon
number, which was selected among the 45 lucky consolation prize
winners.

Your email ID identified with Coupon No.NL132478 and was selected by
Electronic Random Selection System (ERSS) with entries from the 50,000
different email addresses enrolled for the Lotto-Wheel E-game.

Your email ID included among the 50,000 different email addresses where
submitted by our partner international email provider companies.

Ref Number: 35149/337-5247/LNI
Lottery Group: Consolation Prize Group
Prize Amount: 1.500,000 (One Million Five Hundred Thousand Euro Only)

You are required to file claims for your lottery prize winning by
contacting the Award Department to Processing your winning
information provided above before 14 working days.

Award Department Officer:
Mr.Robert Heinz
TEL:31-645-535-301
FAX:31-847-520-740
Email:claimsofficer101@netscape.net

Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for
being part of our promotional program.

Note: Anybody under the age of 18 is automatically disqualified.

Yours truly,

Mrs.Mavis Cook

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam