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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "microsoft lottery"
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claim 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!
• This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +447011137826 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "Andrea Baker" <regional_coordinator_32@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: claimsagent@claimsdept.net
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 02:41:30 +0000
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION

Microsoft e-mail lottery promotion/prize award
DEPT. regional headquarter (d.p.u)
Reference number: EMSLI/VPK/5213/1190.
Batch number: 1047/92710/CP/ABM.

WINNING NOTIFICATION
Sir/Madam,
We are pleased to inform you of the microsoft international e-mail lottery
program held on the 10, February 2007. And results just recently released.
Your E-mail address attached to TICKET NUMBER: 4208-2113-59-70. with SERIAL
NUMBER VB-246819. Drew LUCKY STAR NUMBER: 905-81301-044. which
consequently won in the 2ND category. You have therefore been approved for a
lump sum pay out of £1,000.000.00 (ONE MILLION POUNDS STERLING ONLY) already
insured in your favour. CONGRATULATIONS!!! Due to mix up of some numbers and
names, we ask 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 100,000
company and 50,000,000 individual e-mail addresses and names from all over
the world.

NO TICKETS WERE SOLD DIRECTLY TO YOUR PERSON, BUT, RATHER YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
WAS LUCKILY SELECTED TO HAVE WON THE PRIZE(£1,000.000.00)

This lottery was promoted and sponsored by the World LotteryAssociation
together with microsoft international and few European Economic States,
under very strict governmental supervision and regulations, in order to
enhance and promote the use of Internet Explorer Users and Microsoft-wares
around the globe. To file in and collect your claims (£1,000.000.00) for
this prize winning award, you are to quickly contact our nominated
fiducially/accredited agent, who is to help you and personally act and be
represented as
your TRUSTEES CLAIM AGENT:

Dr.Charles Allan.
TEL: +44-701-113-7826
+44-701-113-7827
Fax +44-707-500-4861
Email: claimsagent@claimsdept.net


Remember, all winning must be claimed not later than one month, after this
date all unclaimed funds will be included in the next stake.
Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications please
remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all
correspondence to your claims agent. Furthermore, should there be any change
of address do inform our agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for being
part of our promotional program.


Sincerely yours
Andrea Baker (Mrs).
Regional President/microsoft Lottery Coordinator.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONFIDENTIALITY: This e-mail message is confidential and is intendedonly for
the addressee of the email address holder who is to immediately report
directly and only to the claims agent. Any unauthorized use or disclosure is
strictly prohibited. Disclosure of this e-mail to anyone other than the
intended addressee does not constitute waiver of privilege. If you have
received this communication in error, please notify us immediately and
delete this. Thank you for your cooperation.

_________________________________________________________________
MSN Hotmail is evolving – check out the new Windows Live Mail
http://ideas.live.com

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam