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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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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:

• 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: "KC Alex" <kcakexx4@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: frkgoodman100@sify.com
Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2006 22:02:25 +0000
Subject: YOUR EMAIL HAS WON YOU 2.5M EUROS.

CONGRATULATIONS FROM
MEGA-BUCK LOTTO
AMSTERDAM-NEDERLAND.

REF NUMBER: 014/060/532
BATCH NUMBER: 762901-PCD03

Dear Lucky Winner,

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Lottery Winners
International rograms held on the 1st Nov, 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 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 50 million EUROS 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: (frkgoodman@o2.pl)

Note that, all winnings must be claimed not later than one month. After this
date all unclaimed funds 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 as
soon as possible. Congratulations once more and thank you for being part of
our promotional program.

Please,do furnish us with the following informations for the processing of
your claim.
YOUR FULL NAME
YOUR BATCH NUMBER
REF; NUMBER
SERIAL NUMBER
YOUR TELEPHONE
FAX NUMBER
ADDRESS
CITY
COUNTRY
OCCUPATION
Sincerely yours,
FRANK GOODMAN.

_________________________________________________________________
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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam