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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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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "million united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "deadline" (they are rushing you so you don't have time to think properly)
• 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.
  • rossofo@yahoo.it (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "super winner" <suplw72@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2007 12:10:04 +0000
Subject: YOU WON.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Superenalotto is happy to inform you that today is your lucky day!
Superenalotto is required to disburse the award of $1.000.000.00 (One
Million United States Dollars) to the correct recipient, but we must verify
that you are the owner of the selected email address before we can send this
money to you. This cash prize must be claimed not later than the 16th of
April, 2007 . After this date all unclaimed prizes will be declared void.
Claimants must be over 20 years of age. All claims must abide by the claim
rules stated in our official page. Click here to view rules:
http://superlinktermswinner.biz.ly/ or paste it in your browser. You must
read the rules and understand them before responding.

To submit your claim for verification, contact your claim agent.

Rosso Fiorentino
rossofo@yahoo.it

Your Claim Ref Nr. GHE-28/555/07 in conjunction with your email address is
yours and yours alone, and has not been issued to any other person. Quote it
when replying. You must act before the deadline date stated above or your
claim will be void. You have received this message from Superenalotto prize
disbursement department because you have visited one of our sponsored sites
and have voluntarily given your email address to receive mails from their
sponsors.

There is no cost to submit your claim, and no further obligation on your
part to Superenalotto.

Sincerely,

Prize Disbursement Department
Superenalotto.


We want to make sure that any user who wants to be removed from the mailing
list is removed from our system immediately. To stop receiving mail, visit
our unsubscribe page for immediate removal.
http://www.lotto-superenalotto.com/delete.htm. We respect your right to
privacy.

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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam