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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "international lottery programme" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "from: the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "claims 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 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.
  • +447011149427 (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.
  • info_agent6@yahoo.com
  • sandra_standard1@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "bello williy" <bello_williams2@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 19:48:30 +0100
Subject: notice for cliam

FROM: THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT INTERNATIONAL

• PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARDS DEPARTMENT AUSTRALIAN
• INTERNATIONAL SWEEPSTAKE LOTTERY COPORATION,

 

Date:15/4/2007

Ref: 475061727

Batch: 7056490934/2007

  Winning Numbers 1 2 26 30 40 21

            

      

Attn: Winner,

We are pleased to inform you of the lottery result

winners of Australian International Lottery Programmes

held on the 14th  of april 2007 from the Australian

International Lottery programme. This is fully based

on an electronic selection of winners using their

e-mail addresses. Your name was attached to ticket

number; 17214 Serial Number 7741137009. This batch

draws the lucky numbers as follows 8-3-8-2-4-2bonus

number 17, which consequently won the lottery in the

second category. You here by have been approved a lump

sum pay of US$200,000.00 (TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND

DOLLARS) in cash credit file ref: ILP/HW 47509/02 from

the total cash prize shared amongst eight lucky

winners in this category.

YOU ARE A WINNER!!!!  

              

Due to mix up of some numbers and names, you are

advised to keep your winning information confidential

until your claims has been processed and your money

remitted to your nominated bank. This is part of our

security protocol to avoid double claims and

unwarranted abuse of this programme by some

participants. All participants where selected through

a computer/mail balloting system drawn from Nine

hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada,

Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East,

Africa and Oceania as part of our international

promotions program which is conducted annually.

This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a

conglomerate of some multinational companies and also

the Australian Government as part of their social

responsibility to the citizens in the communities

where they have operational base. Further more your

details (e-mail address) falls within our European

representative office in Amsterdam, Holland, as

indicated in your play coupon and your prize of

US$200,000.00 will be released to you from our

regional branch office in WEST AFRICA OR UNITED

KINGDOM. We hope with part of your prize, you will

participate in our end of year high stakes for US$2.3

Million international draw.

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE: Simply contact our claims

agent, DR Alex Smith at info_agent6@yahoo.com

Contact number:+447011149427

To file for your claim. Please quote your Date of

draw, Reference Number, Batch Number and Winning

Number, which can be found on the top-left corner of

this message. Also, you should give in your telephone

number to help locate your file easily. For security

reasons, we advice all winners to keep this

information confidential from the public until your

claim is processed and your prize has been released to

you and also to the public. This is part of our

security protocol to avoid double claiming and

unwarranted taking advantage of this programme by

non-participant or unofficial personnel.

Note: All winnings MUST be claimed before the 30th of

apirl 2007; otherwise all funds will be forfeited.

Congratulations once again on your winning

 

BEST REGARDS

JAMES O'BRIEN (MR)

(LOTTERY COORDINATOR)

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS

AGENT AT: sandra_standard1@yahoo.com/

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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam