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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:

• 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)
• 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.
  • rev_samuelchukas07@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "MICROSOFT RESEARCH OFFICER" <craig_mundie101@hotmail.co.uk>
Reply-To: rev_samuelchukas07@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 19:34:44 +0000
Subject: MICROSOFT CONSULATE GENERAL CONGRATULATES YOU

FROM THE DESK OF THE E-MAIL PROMOTIONS MANAGER INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT, MICROSOFT CORPORATION WORD LOTTERY USA   Ref: 475061725 Batch: 7056490902/188 Winning no: GB8701/LPRC   WINNING NOTIFICATION   Congratulations,   We are delighted to inform you of your prize release on the 16th April, 2007 from the Microsoft International Lottery programme. Which is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses from different sites.Your email address was attached to ticket number; 17212, serial number 7741137002.This batch draws the lucky numbers of     and bonus number , which consequently won the lottery in the second category.   You hereby have been approved a lump sum pay of US$500,000 (FIVE 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.   All participant were selected through a computer 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 the Microsoft Co-operation World wide as part of their social responsibility to promote the use of internet world wide.   Further more your details (e-mail address) falls within our African representative office as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of USD$500,000 will be released to you from our Affliate Bank in United Kingdom. We hope with part of your prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes for US$1.3 Billion international draw. Your Winning fund of USD$500.000 (FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) has been insured and locked to your account with the Paying Bank in United Kingdom with REF NO: MSW-L/200-26937 and will be released or delivered to you when you are through with the official process involved with the bank in united kingdom.   It will be processed on your behalf by our Claims Officer in charge of African zone (REV. SAMUEL CHUKAS). Your E-mail address should be used in all correspondence with your claims officer, you are to contact your claims officer via email and phone call as we are promoting the use of E-mail. Also you have the right to call him to confirm your winning Details. Please note that we have instructed that you will receive your prize money in full of USD$500,000. Therefore you should make sure that you follow all the rules accordingly for the processing and release of your prize to you without any delay. HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE: Simply contact our Claims Officer  Reverend Samuel Chukas Email: rev_samuelchukas07@yahoo.com Please make sure that you quote your reference, batch and winning numbers which can be found on the top left corner of this notification as well as your full name, address and 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 released to you. 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 within 30 days from the date of this notification. Unclaimed funds will be returned to the national treasury for our next draw.   Congratulations once again on your winning!!!   Best Regards.   Congratulations once more from the entire Management and Staff of Microsoft Cooperation to all our  lucky winners this year. Thank you for being part of this promotional lottery program.                                Craig Mundie (Chief Research Officer Microsoft Cooperation)         Past winners round the world with full of excitment.   Dr. P. Swier, Mr. Gerald Goodman (Manager Foreign Operations), Mr. Franklyn Van Der Weijden (Manager Domestic Finance Operations), Dr. James Williams (Director International Credit Department), Mrs. Sandra Murphy (Executive), Mr. Michael Cole (Executive), Mr. Stephen Boer (Chairman)

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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam