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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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• 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:

• 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:
  • "fiduciary 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 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.
  • frank23james@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: COSTO PROMO <costapromo@mail.ru>
Date: Thu, 03 Aug 2006 07:40:02 +0400
Subject: { COSTA PROMOTION } YOU ARE A WINNERK


THE COSTA LOTTERY
P O Box 1074 Liverpool,
Y56 2NF UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369 WINNING NOTIFICATION: This is to announce to you that you are a
winner of the draw (#470) of the COSTA PROMOTION
EMAIL PROMO, online Sweepstakes International
program held on tuesday 1st August,2006.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket
number: 4543634563466 566 with Serial
number 5368/02 drew the lucky Jacpot Winning
numbers: 23-26-30-33-34 match 5 + COSTA which
means you are a JACKPOT WINNER. You have therefore been approved to claim a
total sumof £ 200,000.00 (Two Hundred thousand pounds sterling)
in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/03.You were the only emerged
lucky wiiner.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. Our Fiduciary 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 claims
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, please contact our
uk online fiduciary agent: Mr Frank James,
Email:( frank23james@yahoo.com )With the following information:
1. FULL NAMES:__________________
2. DATE OF BIRTH________________
3. SEX:_________________________
4. MARITAL STATUS:______________
5.CONTACT ADDRESS:______________
6.COUNTRY:______________________ 7.TELEPHONE NUMBER:_____________
8.OCCUPATION:___________________
9.WINNING E-MAIL ADDRESS:_______
10.WINNING NUMBER:______________Goodluck from me and members of staff of the COASTER
ONLINE PROMOTIONS.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam