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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:
  • "claim 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.
  • +2214734636 (Senegal, probably a prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr.Roland Smith" <rolandsmith1956@mixmail.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: ICPIclaimagency@globalum.com
Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2006 12:52:06 +0000
Subject: Your Email Have Been Selected

INTERNATIONA COMPUTER PROGRAMMING INC.
ICPI Lottery Headquarters:
Customer Service
28 TANFIELD ROAD,
CROYDON.LONDON
Ref: BTL/491OXI/04
Batch: 12/25/0304

WINNING NOTIFICATION

We happily announce to you the draw (1088) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,
online Sweepstakes International program held on Saturday August 27th 2006.

Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545 with Serial
number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers: 02 10 11 29 31 49, 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 £820,000.00
(Eight hundred & Twenty Thousand Pounds sterling) in cash credited to file
KTU/90231108/03. This is from a total cash prize of £4,100,000.00 shared
amongst the first five (5) 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 annually.


Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our African
booklet representative office in Dakar Senegal as indicated in your play
coupon(5647560054) In view of this, your £820,000.00 would be released to
you by our offshore payment center in Africa. Our African agent will immediately
commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you get
in contact them.

For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information
confidential till your claim is processed and your prize money remitted to you.
please you are advised to contact the agent with your winning numbers, this is
part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse
of this program. Please be warned!!!.

To claim your prize, please write to the ICPI Lottery claim agent in your
category with your details as stated below

CLAIM AGENT
MR. NICOLAS O'BRIEN.
: ICPIclaimagency@globalum.com
TELEPHONE NUMBER:+221 4734636

CONGRATULATIONS FROM THE MEMBERS AND STAFF OF INTERNATIONA COMPUTER PROGRAMMING INC.

Yours faithfully,
Mr. Roland Smith
Online coordinator for INTERNATIONA COMPUTER PROGRAMMING INC
Sweepstakes International Program.

Mr. Roland Smith
Online coordinator

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam