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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
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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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "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.
  • @yahoo.com
  • markjones_usvisalottery@yahoo.com

Fraud email example:

From: "US VISA LOTTERY" <moris_carter@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2006 10:29:30 +0000
Subject: US VISA NOTIFICATION!!!

	Date:14/09/2006 Ref 575061725 Batch: 8056490902/188 Winning no: KB8701/LPRC           Dear Sir/Madam                                        CONGRATULATION!! We are delighted to inform you of your winning on the 10th of september 2006 from the United states of america International visa Lottery Programme(www.national visaservice.com) which is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses.Your name was attached to ticket number; 575061725 8056490902 serial number 6741137002 This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows: 4-13-33-37-42 bonus number 17,which consequently won the lottery in the second category. All participant were selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Africa as part of our international promotions program which is conducted annually. This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomorate of some multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the commmunities where they have operational base and you are entitled with a huge lump of $250,000.00 u.s dollars which will cover everything about your travelling expenses. HOW TO FILE YOUR CLAIM : Simply contact our Fiducial Agent, MR. MARK JONES at; markjones_usvisalottery@yahoo.com to file for your claim. Please quote your Date of draw,Reference Number, Batch Number and Winning Number, which can be found on the top-left corner of this message. Also, you should give in your telephone number to help locate your file easily. For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your visa has been released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this programme by non-participant or unofficial personnel. Note, all winnings MUST be claimed by the 26th of September 2006; otherwise all funds will be returned as unclaimed and eventually donated to charity. Congratulations once again on your winning! Best Regards. Mr s.Cathy   Raymonds (For the co-ordinator) DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT AT:markjones_usvisalottery@yahoo.com

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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam