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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:
  • "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "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.
  • +447031925541 (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.
  • ukclaimschrisbrown@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: British National Lottery <ukclaimschrisbrown@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 17:04:54 -1200
Subject: Confirmation Letter From The Lottery Office.

BRITISH NATIONAL LOTTERY HEADQUARTERS:
28 TAN FIELD ROAD,
CROYDON, LONDON.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Ref: UK/9420X2/68

Dear Selected Winner,
We are pleased to inform you of the final announcement of the UK National Lottery Online Promo Programme held on the
26TH of May, 2007. We have been sending this notice to you but this is the last as we are about distributing winnings
to winners. The draw was done electronically with several email addresses provided to this office by microsoft to
enhance the utilization of the internet.

Your email address was attached to Reference Number UK/9420X2/68 and was picked as one of the ten winning email
addresses. This has qualified you to claim the total cash prize Of £753,437(Seven Hundred and Fifty Three
Thousand,Four Hundred and Thirty Seven Pound Sterling) in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/03.

This is from a total cash prize of £7,534,370.00 shared amongst the first ten (10) lucky winners in this category
B.Your winnings will be issued to you as soon as our claims department verify your winning after you might have filled
the payment processing form below.

Payment Processing Form for filing of claims.

1.Name in full.
2.Address in full.
3.Age.
4.Phone No.
5.Occupation
6.Winning Email Address

This will enable us process your payment processing form. You are advised to contact our claims department via these
details:
ASSIGNED CLAIMS AGENT: Mr. Chris Brown
EMAIL: ukclaimschrisbrown@yahoo.co.uk
TEL.: +44 703 192 5541,+44 703 192 5496

Quote Your Reference Number as UK/9420X2/68 when
you are filing your claims.

Yours Faithfully,
Sir Steven Smith
Online Co-ordinator

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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam