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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:
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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.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "foreign service manager" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• 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.
  • pecific@financier.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Grace Hopkin" <grace44@terra.com.mx>
Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2006 10:02:35 -0600
Subject: 2010 World Cup


CUSTOMER SERVICE: 480 NCA1068
REF: ZAWC/2010/GO-DM/06
BATCH NO: 14/8052/DC06
WINNING NO: 750333933-77
Attention 4th Category,

CONGRATULATIONS! LOTTERY WINNING NOTIFICATION

We happily announce to you the draw of the South African 2010 World Cup, Happy Home lottery, Sweepstake International and free lotto Promotion
Programs held on the 11th of July 2006 in Johannesburg South Africa.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: B75904546 220 with Serial number: 60124 drew the winning: 750333933-77 which subsequently won you the lottery in the 4th category. Participants were selected through a computer ballot random sampling method 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 winning number 750333933-77, with serial number 544018 drew the lucky numbers 27-842-70-77 and consequently won in the 4th Category. You are herefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of USD$1,000,000.00 (One Million, United States Dollars) in cash credited to file REF NO.GML/2551256003/23.
Place of Claims: - All cash prizes under an amount defined by the Director may be claimed through a duly authorized claim center in any of the OPEC
(ORGANISATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES) members’ country, which may be but is not limited to an Agent's licensed location or at the offices of the Division of Revenue. All cash prizes greater than $5000 must be claimed at the claims agent office in any of the OPEC members’ country zone for such purpose.

Our corresponding office/agent in Europe will facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact them. All participants were selected through
a computer ballot system drawn and extracted from over 100,000 e-mails ID of individuals and companies on the World Wide Web sites to promote South Africa's 2010 World Cup Award.

In light of this, your prize money will be settled by our claims agent in Nigeria PECIFIC SECURITIES AND FINANCE LTD. You are to contact our agent by Email within a week of receiving this notice. Please find full contact details below:
Dr. Thomas Ayuba.
FOREIGN SERVICE MANAGER,
PECIFIC SECURITIES AND FINANCE LTD.
7 Victoria Garden City Ikoyi Lagos.
Nigeria.
Email Address: pecific@financier.com

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in every one of your correspondences with your agent. Furthermore you are seriously advised
to keep all winning lottery information and numbers from the public in line with OPEC security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by unscrupulous individuals.

Congratulations again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our Promotions program.

Yours Sincerely,
Mrs. Grace Hopkin.
THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,

N.B. 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.
THANKS..
Powered, Sponsored and Engineered by CLASSIC F.M AND SOUTH AFRICA 2010 WORLD-CUP BID.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members include Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam