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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)
  • "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!
• 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.
  • +447011120676 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "promouklotterydraw" <promouklotterydraw@terra.com.mx>
Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2006 14:47:38 -0600
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS WINNER


LOTTERY COORDINATOR,

INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT
DEAR SIR/MADAM,

RESULTS FOR CATEGORY "A" DRAWS

Congratulations to you as we bring to your notice, the results of the First Category draws of Lucky Dip Lottery, UK. We are happy to inform you that you have emerged a winner under the First Category, which is part of our promotional draws. The draw was held rior to the date of your notification. Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 names/email addresses of individuals and companies from Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, and Oceania as part of our International Promotions Program. You/Your company, attached to ticket number 6422-5-486, with serial number 59-18 drew the lucky numbers 33-92-78-05 (18) and consequently won in the First Category. You have therefore been awarded a lump sum pay out of £6,000,000 (Six million, Great Britain Pounds), which is the winning payout for Category A winners. This is from the total prize money of £12,000,000 shared between the 2 winners in this category.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You are to contact your transfer agents James Doherty & Co for due processing and remittance of your fund to a nominated account of your choice. To avoid mix up of numbers and names of any kind, we request that you keep the entire details of your award strictly from public notice until the process of transferring your claims has been completed, and your funds remitted to your account. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by participants/non participants of this program. We also wish to bring to your notice our end of the year 2006 premium stakes draw where you stand a chance of winning up to £50 million; we hope that with a part of your prize you will participate. Please contact your claims agent immediately with the contact information below:

MR.ASHLEY COLE
Financial Director
James Doherty & Co
45 High Street, Lochee,
Dundee, Tayside, DD5 7AU
United Kingdom
Tel: +44-7011-120-676
Fax: +44-7005-801-586
Email:info1@jamesdoherty.co.uk

You are advised to contact our agents by email and/or fax within two week of receiving this notice. Failure to do so may warrant disqualification.
NOTE: For easy reference and identification, find below your reference and Batch numbers. Remember to quote these numbers in every one of your correspondences with your claims agent.

REFERENCE NUMBER: TGA-4GA-69889
BATCH NUMBER: R3/A312-59.
Congratulations once again from all our staff and thank you for being
part of our promotions program.
Sincerely,

THE LOTTERY COORDINATOR,
LUCKY DIP LOTTERY, UK
78 ORWELL ROAD RATHGAR
DUBLIN 8 DUBLIN.
TEL:+44-7005-801-481

N.B: Lucky Dip Lottery pays in excess of 50% of its funds in prize money. The balance is used to fund projects in Ireland in the areas of health, sport, recreation, arts, culture and national heritage, including the Irish language. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to disqualification. Please do not reply to this mail. Contact your claims agent immediately.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam