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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
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
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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:
  • "claim 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.
  • waltertaylor@myway.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "MRS MATHA SMITH" <marthasmithlotto@yahoo.ie> (may be fake)
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 11:40:10 +0100
Subject: YOUR EMAIL MADE IT



THE FREE LOTTO COMPANY
IE OFFICE SUITE 23-30,
LIFFY VALLEY COMPLEX DUBLIN IRELAND

Dear Winner,

My name is MRS MARTHA SMITH, and on the behalf of free national lotto company of Ireland, I wish to announce you as one of the 10 lucky winners in the Free Lotto draw held on the 2nd of April 2007. All 10 winning addresses were randomly selected from a batch of 50,000,000 international emails. Your email address emerged alongside 9 others as a 2nd category winner in this year's Annual Free Lotto Draw.

Consequently, you have therefore been approved for a total pay out of 900,000 Euro (nine hundred Thousand Euro only).The following particulars are attached to your lotto payment order:
(i) Winning numbers: 37-13-43-85-67-11
(ii) Email ticket number: FL754/22/76
(iii) Lotto code number: FL09622IE
(iv) The file Ref number: FL/04/736207152/IE

Please contact the under listed claims officer as soon as possible for the immediate release of your winnings:

NAME : MR.WALTER TAYLOR
Email Address : waltertaylor@myway.com
Telephone : +353862185587 CLAIM AGENT Once again on behalf of all our staff, CONGRATULATIONS!!! Sincerely, MRS MARTHA SMITH.

This email notification is auto-generated its contents are valid for only two weeks and it is unmonitored so do not reply. *********************************************************************** The Free Lotto Awards is proudly sponsored by the Microsoft Corporation, the Intel Group, Toshiba, Dell computers, Mackintosh and a conglomeration of other international IT companies. The free lotto internet draw is held once in a year and is so organized to encourage the use of the internet and computers worldwide. We are proud to say that over 200 Million Euros are won annually in more than 150 countries worldwide.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam