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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:

• 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: "Williams " <wiiliams303_swiss@rediffmail.com>
Date: 30 Jan 2007 11:13:00 -0000
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!


WORLD WIDE GOVERNMENT LOTTERY,FROM:MR MARK JACKSON, PROMOTION MANAGER.E-mail: melody_pwrs@yahoo.co.ukREF NUMBER: OSL/746/029/03BATCH NUMBER: AT-040-SB06-03We are pleased to inform you, THAT AS A RESULT OF OUR RECENT LOTTERY &nbsp;DRAWS HELD on the 31st of DECEMBER 2006. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number 27522465896-532 with serial number 652-662 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 1,000,000 (DOLLARS)(ONE MILLION DOLLARS).Note that All participants in this lottery program have been selected randomly through a computer ballot system drawn from over 20,000 companies and 30,000,000 individual email addresses from all search engines and web sites. This promotional program takes place every year, and is promoted and sponsored by eminent personalities like the Sultan of Brunei, bill &nbsp;gates of microsoft inc and other corporate organisations. this is to encourage the use of the internet and compute
rs worldwide.To enable us file in your name for payment,please do provide the &nbsp;following &nbsp;informations:1,YOUR FULL NAME ......................2,YOUR SEX:..........................3,HOME TELEPHONE NUMBER:.................4,OFFICE TELEPHONE: ...................5,MOBILE PHONE:............................6,YOUR FAX NUMBER:...............7,YOUR OCCUPATION:....................8,YOUR COMPANY NAME: ................9,YOUR AGE:........................10,HOME ADDRESS:......................11,Country:.....................Please I\'d like to know how you want to receive your prize won of US$1Million,choose from the following medium.1,By Cheque2,CashYou are to send all the infomation to the lottery office.E-mail: melody_pwrs@yahoo.co.ukcongratulations once again.THANKSLOTTERY OFFICE.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam