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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:
  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:

• 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.
  • +447045711757 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • towoodgate@yahoo.com

Fraud email example:

From: Stephen Rice <stephen212rice@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2007 00:11:03 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: PAYMENT MODALITIES


ATTN: Ms Albertina Hirschder

I received your email with some of the informations requested of you and your winnings will be transfered to your bank account via our affiliate bank. Therefore you would be advised to contact the paying bank in order to initiate the processing of setting up an account to which your prize sum would be paid to make possible the bank to bank transfer of your winnings.

You have no worry about claiming your funds because you are a council employee. The goverment has nothing to do with your personal winnings all you have to do is make sure your winning numbers such as the reference numbers are kept away from the public.

The contact details of the bank is stated below:

NATWEST BANK
Contact: Mr. Tony Woodgate (Director - Customer Financial Services)
Telephone: 0044 7899 036 885
Fax: 0044 8712 648 466
Email: tony.woodgate@googlemail.com or towoodgate@yahoo.com

Upon contacting the bank by email, ensure to state your names, telephone numbers, winning reference numbers and amount won in order to get a quick response. I would expect you to keep me informed on your correspondence with the bank, so my office can facilitate the smooth remittance of your prize winnings.

Regards,
Stephen Rice
+447045711757


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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam