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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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was sent to thousands of people)
  • "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• 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.
  • lottery_consultant_center@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Office Center <office_center010@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 14:38:26 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Contact Our Claims Processor Mr Tobi Francis


The United Kindgom National Lottery
P O Box 1010 Liverpool, L70 1NL UNITED KINGDOM
(Claim Department).

Dear Beneficiary,

We the management and staff of the United Kingdom National Lottery happily congratulate you on your winning of $950,000usd.Your Email which code is 504 won after a random selection of more than 30million emails. You are by this notice expected to contact our zonal coordinator,Mr Tobi Francis under the management of Solute Consultancy with the email(lottery_consultant_center@yahoo.co.uk) in Cotonou, Benin Republic with the following informaton for the remittance of your winning:(1)FULL NAMES: (2)CONTACT ADDRESS: (3)E-MAIL ADDRESS: (4)AGE & SEX: (5)TELEPHONE NUMBER: (6)FAX NUMBER: (7)COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: (8)STATE OF ORIGIN: (9)BREIF DESCRIPTION OF YOUR WORK/OCCUPATION.
Once again Congratulation!!!

Regards
Mrs.Sandra Cole.
Natinal Coordinator.


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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam