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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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.

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:
  • "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.
  • mark_paulson11@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: mark paulson <google.2007promo@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 04:41:07 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: CONGRATULATION YOU HAVE WON GOOGLE PROMO!!!


ATTENTION: Giselle Probst

We congratulate you for your luck in winning our Internet Game promo, You have to contact the Agent as stated below and forward the below informations to him so that he can process and transfer your winning funds to you.

COMPANY NAME: GOOGLE LOTTO WEST ZONAL OFFICE.
DEAPARTMENT: PAYMENT DEPARTMENT
CONTACT NAME: AGENT: MARK PAUL
EMAIL ADDRESS:mark_paulson11@yahoo.co.uk

Below is Your confidential information should be forwarded to the agent that his name is listed above. Make sure you contact him as soon as possible.

BATCH NUMBER:15/435070/CK/KKP
SERIAL NUMBER: 39224059/2006
TICKET NUMBER: 356-0009-832-11222
PIN NUMBER: 5349

Winning amount: Five hundred and fifty thousand pounds.(550.000.00 pounds)
NOTE: That You will Ask him to give the VERIFICATION FORM TO FILL for the processing of your winning In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complication, please remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in every one of your correspondences with your agent. Furthermore, should there be any change of your address, do inform your claims agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our promotions program. You are advised to inform us of your receipt of this mail.

Sincerely,

GOOGLE LOTTO WEST ZONAL OFFICE.
Winners Notification Unit.Winners Notification
Unit.This message is from the Google lotto
Notification Department




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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam