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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!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• 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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "from: the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "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 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.
  • +31616211231 (Netherlands, prepaid mobile phone)
• 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.
  • svrclmagent@aol.com

Fraud email example:

From: "MICROSOFT INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS PROMOTIONS," <clavin55@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2005 20:57:21 -0500
Subject: !!!CONGRATULATION YOU ARE A WINNER!!!.

YOU ARE THE STAR PRIZE WINNER!!!
IMPROVING THE USE OF EMAIL ROUND THE WORLD
FROM: THE DESK OF THE E-MAIL PROMOTIONS MANAGER INTERNATIONAL
PROMOTIONS/PRIZE
AWARD DEPARTMENT, MICROSOFT INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS PROMOTIONS,
UNITED KINGDOM. 61-70 Southampton Row,
Bloomsbury London United Kingdom WC1B 4AR.
REFERENCE NO: MSW/800-78561
BATCH NO: 754523WL98
WINNER NO: 867442

!!!CONGRATULATION YOU ARE A WINNER!!!.

DEAR WINNER,

The Board of Directors, members of staff and the International Awareness
Promotion Department of the MICROSOFT Company, wishes to congratulate you on
your success as the STAR PRIZE WINNER in this years' MICROSOFT International
Awareness Promotion (IAP) held on 7th of February, 2007, in London, England.

You have. your personal email address or company email was attached to
Microsoft-World wide with a ticket number M/L9918609 Drew the lucky number
472-88-9214X, and consequently qualifiers you in the first lottery category.
To receive the amount credited (USD$ 2,000,000,00) Payable in cash to file
No: MSW/441-79534 this is from the total prize of USD$ 25,000,000,
Shared among the luckey international winners in the first and secound
category.

All participants were selected from worldwide website especially from our
Microsoft computer ballot system drew 21,000 Names from eash content
CANADA, ASIA, AUSTRALIA, UNITED STATE, EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA AND
OCEANIA, AS PART OF INTERNATIONAL "E-MAIL" PROMOTIONS PROGRAM, WHICH IS
CONDUCTED ANNUALLY FOR OUR PROMINENT MS -WORD USERS ALL OVER THE WORLD, AND
TO ENCOURAGE THE USE OF INTERNET AND COMPUTERS WORLDWIDE. be inform that you
have right to call the claim agent to confirm your winning information and
claim, As he will provide you the necessary details on how to claim your
prize. As part of our security protocol you are to quote this security Code
(MWL/XXM/FEB06) to your claim service agent, this is to prevent scam.
Please contact our agent at the Netherlands branch for advice on how to
claim your fund:
***************************************************************************
*******
Dr. LEAHY LUKJAN
45-50 Preludeweg 1213sn Almere The Netherlands
Tel: +31-616-211-231
Fax: +31-847-204-981
Office E-mail: Svrclmagent@aol.com
***************************************************************************
*******
Endeavour to contact our service claim agent with the following
information’s:
VERIFICATION FORM:
1.) FULL NAME:
2.) AGE:
3.) SEX:
4.) ADDRESS:
5.) ZIP/POSTAL CODE:
6.) STATE/PROVINCE:
7.) COUNTRY:
8.) PHONE:
9.) OCCUPATION/POSITION:
10.) COMPANY:
11.) EMAIL ADDRESS:
12.) TICKET NUMBER:
13.) SERIAL NUMBER:
14.) AMOUNT WON:
15) WINNING NO: AND SECURITY CODE:
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. OUR SPECIAL THANKS AND
GRATITUDE TO BILL GATE OF MICROSOFT AND ALL HIS ASSOCIATES FOR ALLEVIATING
POVERTY ROUND THE WORLD.
SINCERELY,


Engr. Martin Smith
DIRECTOR OF PROMOTIONS,
INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS PROMOTIONS,
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM.

THE MICROSOFT INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS PROMOTION
COPYRIGHT ©2007. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam