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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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "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!

Fraud email example:

From: BRITISH INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY <thunaderball@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 14:44:52 -0500
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE WON =A3250,000 (Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling)?=



BRITISH ONLINE
British Online Lottery
P. O. Box 1010
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
Ref Nº: 20-01-2005-02MSW
Serial Nº: S/N-00168

We happily announce to you the draw (#586) of the British ONLINE INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY (THUNDERBALL LOTTERY), online Sweepstakes International program held on Saturday 23rd September, 2006. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number/Reference Number: 20-01-2005 02MSW. With Serial number S/N-00168 drew the lucky numbers: [11] [17] [23] [31] [34] bonus thunderball [03], 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 £250,000 (Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling) in cash credited to file BOL/9023118308/03

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.

Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your £250,000 (Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling) would be released to you by any of our affiliated securities/couriers companies.

Our European agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him.

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.

You can go to our online result site to confirm the value of your winnings and also get a prize breakdown:- www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/results/results.do

To file for your claim, please contact our claims agent with the contact information below if you know that you will not be able to proceed to the United Kingdom to personally process your claim:

Jonathan Freeman
Email: lotteryagent@lotterywinner.co.uk

Provide him with these following details with which he will commence the processing of your winnings if you know that you will not be able to come to the United Kingdom to process your winning claim.

1. Name in full [NO INITIALS PLEASE]:

2. Address [P.O BOX IS NOT ACCEPTED]:

3. Nationality:

4. Country of Residence:

5. Age:

6. Occupation:

7. Phone Number:

8. Fax Number [optional].

9. Amount Won:

Good luck from me and members of staff of the BRITISH ONLINE INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY.
BELOW ARE THE SPONSORS OF THIS PROGRAM

OUR Executives:
Mrs. Stefan Lloyd (ORGANIZER), Mr. Gerald Goodman (Manager Foreign Operations), Mr. Franklyn Van Der Weijden (Manager Domestic Banking Operations), Dr. Collin Powell (Director Online International Promotions Unit), Mr. Jonathan Freeman (Fiduciary Agent), Mrs. Susan Harts (Regional Manager), Mr. Stephen Boer (Chairman).

Yours faithfully,
Mrs. Susan Harts.
Regional manager for British Online
International Lottery.
Sweepstakes International Program.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam