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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")
• 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.
  • hprestonesq@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "UK National Lottery Board" (may be fake)
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2006 03:02:05 +0200 (MEST)
Subject: 2006 Winning Notification Letter(Final Quarter).


ONLINE NOTIFICATION UNIT.
UK NATIONAL ONLINE LOTTERY(HOME OFFICE).
165 FULHAM PALACE ROAD W6 8JB
UNITED KINGDOM.
REFERENCE NUMBER: UK/839030X2/14
BATCH NUMBER:065/088/XY24
TICKET NUMBER: 023-1111-790-458 OUR REF: 27349/46
WINNING NOTIFICATION: FINAL NOTIFICATION
We are pleased to inform you of the final announcement today 9th of September of winners of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY ONLINE PROMOTION PROGRAMME held on Saturday 2nd of september 2006. Your ticket number 023-1111-790-458 attached to your email address, with serial number 5073-12 drew the lucky numbers 43-10-42-37-10-43(bonus no.),this lucky number subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category.
You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of 480,152.00GBP(Four hundred and eighty thousand one hundred and fifty-two Great Britain Pounds) in cash credited to file XYL/26510460037/04. This is from a total cash prize of 3,361,064.00GBP(Three million three hundred and sixty-one thousand and sixty-four Great Britain Pounds) shared equally amongst the first seven (7) lucky winners in this category i.e Match 5 plus bonus. All participants of this online promotion programme were selected randomly from numerous World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from close to 125,000 unions, associations and corporate bodies listed online. This promotion takes place Quarterly. Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet representat ive office in the United kingdom as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this,your 480,152.00GBP(Four hundred and eighty thousand one hundred and fifty-two Great Britain Pounds) would be released to you by any of our payment office in the United Kingdom. Your assigned claims agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him/her via electronic mail(email) or other options made available to you. 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, please contact your assigned agent; Mr. Henry Preston.
Representative office.
10 Camelot close Thamesmead.
London E280 ES United Kingdom.
Tel. +447 011 121 847
Fax. +448 701 344 863
Email: hprestonesq@yahoo.co.uk You are required to provide him with the information below for verification purposes: 1. Full Name:
2. Full Address:
3. Sex:
4. Age:
5. Marital Status:
6. Occupation:
7. Nationality:
8. Telephone Number:
9. E-mail Address:
10. E-mail Address Ticket Number:
11. Country of Residence: Note: Any error or information(s) missing in the information requested for verification will be dishonoured and disqualified as abuse to our Policy Terms and Services. You must contact your claims officer not later than 2(two) weeks after this date in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications. Claims not filed for after this date will be returned as unclaimed. Please remember to quote your reference number in every one of your correspondences with your assigned claims officer. Furthermore, should there be any change of your address, do inform your claims officer as soon as possible. Congratulations once more from all members and staffs of this program. Thank you for being part of our online promotional lottery program. Yours Truly,Stephen Smith.
Group Co-ordinator. This is a post-only mailing. Replies to this message are not monitored or answered.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam