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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• 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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims 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!

Fraud email example:

From: maryconnely17@canada.com
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:04:39 -1200
Subject: NOTIFICATION!

The National Lottery
P O Box 1010
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

WINNING NOTIFICATION:

We happily announce you as one of the winners of draw
(#942) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes
International program .

Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:56475600545
188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky
numbers:4-6-9-12-15-40 (bonus no.25), which subsequently won
you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e match 5 plus bonus.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of
£8,987,470 (Eight million nine hundred and eighty seven
thousand,four hundred and seventy pounds sterling) in cash
credited to file KTU/9023118308/03. This is from a total
cash prize of £35,949,880 shared amongst the(4)lucky
winners in this category i.e Match 5 plus bonus.All
participants for the online version were selected randomly
from World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and
extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations, and
corporate bodies that are listed online. This promotion
takes place weekly.

Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our
European booklet representative office in Europe as
indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your
£8,987,470 (Eight million nine hundred and eighty seven
thousand,four hundred and seventy pounds sterling)will be
released to you by any of our payment offices in Europe.

Our European agent will immediately commence the process to
facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact
him.For security reasons, you are advised to keep your
winning information confidential till your claim is
processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner
you deem fit to claim your prize.

This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be
warned.To file for your claim,do reply here so our claims
agent can get in contact with you.


Endeavour to email as soon as possible.Congratulations from
me and members of staff of THE UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.

Yours faithfully,

Mary Connely.
Online coordinator for THE NATIONAL LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program.


N.B:
1.All claims are nullified after 10 working days from
today.
2.Your File number must be in all your mails with the
claims officer.
3.Do inform the claims officer of any change of names or
addresses.
4.All winners under the age of 18 are automatically
dis-qualified.




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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam