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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:

• The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "first national bank" (not involved with lotteries)
• 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 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.
  • +27838996388 (South Africa, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: macdonald benson <macdonaldbeson2000@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 10:15:50 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Payment Procedure. (From Mr. Mac Donald Benson)


Dear;Alvar Urner

We are in receipt of your mail and we wish to inform you that all arrangments have been finally concluded to effect the transfer of your winnings to your account details once we finish the verification exercise.

Do note that we recently took delivery of the total winnings from our sponsors.

The funds have been fully insured by this organisation and deposited with our paying bankers FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF SOUTH AFRICA (FNB),from where the funds will be transfered.

You are advised as a matter of urgency to provide us with the following informations so that we will proccess your clerance and issue same to our paying bankers for them to make the neccessary transfer to your account details.

1: YOUR FULL RESIDENTIAL OR OFFICE ADDRESS


2: YOUR CONTACT TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBERS

3: YOUR DRIVERS LICENCE OR ID FOR IDENTIFICATION

4;BATCH/WINNING NUMNBER

5;OCCUPATION

6;AGE

7;SEX

8;NATIONALITY


Once we get this details, we will proccess your winnings and advise the bank to effect remittance

Congratulations,
Mr. Mac- Donald
Claim Agent.
(+27-83-899-6388)


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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam