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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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary 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!

Fraud email example:

From: ITALIAN NATIONAL LOTTERY COMMISSION 2007 <internallotto.it@libero.it>
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2007 15:04:37 -0100
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION!!!


International lottery No 21 planta 2a
28014, roma, Italy
Email:internallotto.it@libero.it



Government Accredited Licensed!!
The international lottery promotion award Dept
REF NO:NYE/07/01342
BATCH NO:224537




We happily announce to you the draw (#978) of ITALIAN NATIONAL LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program held on 20th, MARCH 2007. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 5647560054 188 with Serial number 5368/02 jack pot lottery winners drew the lucky numbers:(-02-06-21-34-35-49-(46-)"bonus no 46. which subsequently won"you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e. match 5 plus bonus. You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of €250.000 (two hundred and fifty thousand euro) in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/03 in a total sum of £1,000,000 (one million euro) lottery jackpot shared amongst the first four (4) lucky winners in this category i.e. Match 5 plus! Bonus with percentage 16.9%, All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online. This promotion takes place yearly.Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our Italian booklet representative office in Italy as indicated in online lottery. In view of this, your €250,000 (two hundred and fifty thousand euro) would be released to you by any of our payment offices in Italy.Our fiduciary agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact them.For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part! of our precautionary measure to avoid unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned. To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent.

Mr Paulo Luigi
Online coordinator
Mr Fabio Pellegrino
Controller SSL.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam