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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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• 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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

• 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!

Fraud email example:

From: "tim kennedy" <timkenny_mb20@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: okohdavid@z6.com
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 04:53:21 -0700
Subject: CONGRATULATION

ADDRESS:
107 BILMAPLEINSTRAAT
2987 NZ
AMSTERDAM
NETHERLAND

Sir/Madam,

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Lottery Winners
International programs held on the 16th Sept, 2006. Your e-mail address
attached to ticket number 27522465896-6453 with serial number 3772-554 drew
lucky numbers 7-14-18-23-31-45 which consequently won in the 2nd
category,you have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of Euros
2,500,000(TWO MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND EUROS).
CONGRATULATIONS!!!

For security purpose and clarity, we advise that you keep your winning
information confidential until your claims have been processed and your
money remitted to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants. All
participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from over
20,000 companies and 30,000,000 individual email addresses and names from
all over the world. This promotional program takes place every year.

This lottery was promoted and sponsored by eminent personalities like the
Sultan of Brunei. We look forward to your active participation in our next
year USD50 million slot. You are requested to contact our clearance office
to assist you with the claim and transfer of your winnings fund into your
instructed account by acknowledging the receipt of this mail with the email
address below.Email address:timkennedy@z6.com

Note that, all winnings must be claimed not later than one month. After this
date all unclaimedfunds will be null and void. Please note in order to avoid
unnecessary delays and complications, remember
to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all correspondence.
Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform our agent
assoon as possible.

Congratulations once more and thank you for being part of our promotional
program.
NOTE: YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED IF YOU ARE
BELOW 18 YEARS OF
AGE.
Sincerely yours,
TIM KENNEDY

_________________________________________________________________
Get today's hot entertainment gossip http://movies.msn.com/movies/hotgossip

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam