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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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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:

• 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.
  • +8613751742384 (China, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "LOTTO AGENT" <wukonglee@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 20 May 2007 10:49:16 -0700
Subject: {Disarmed} 6 DIGITS/AWARD CERTIFICATE


FROM THE INTERNATIONAL PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT

Category A Prize Winner

* CONGRATULATIONS *

ATTN:



Dear Sir.



We wish to inform you once again that your email address was among to the
lucky
number as it was made know to you in the letter the promotion company send
to you
and our committee was appointed as your agent to help to process your award
certificate and send to you to enable you to proceed to contact the payee
center,
for the processing of your funds to your bank account in
your country.

Now your 6 digit numbers that is the treasure key are as follows 8, 3, 7, 9,
5, and
2, password RRTAz15.

Be informed that your winning prize has a hard cover insurance policy that
makes it
difficult to deduct a cent until the sum is finally credited into your
designated
account.

So we wish to notify you that we will like you to furnish to us with your

1. Name in full:
*2. Address:*
*3. Nationality:*
*4. Age:*
*5. Occupation:*
*6. Phone/Fax:*
,

This will enable us issue the award certificate to you for immediate claim
of your
winning funds as it was stated in the above letter that we have only few
weeks to
practice this exercise.

So the earlier you send the above mention information will be better for you
as time
is not in your favor. MEAN WHILE, YOU CAN CONTACT MR WUKONGLEE ON
+8613751742384

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR AWARD CERTIFICATE. Finally we wish to say
congratulations to you once more.

Sincerely yours,
MR.WUKONG LEE.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam