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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "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 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.
  • helpdesklotto2007@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
  • helpdesklotto@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: claims office <rick1011@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:50:32 +0100
Subject: LOTTERY NOTIFICATION



THE AWARDS WINNERS EXCHANGE ONLINE LOTTERY NOTIFICATION FROM THE DESK OF THE MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT HEADQUARTERS: 11 ROSS-ON-WYE, HEREFORDSHIRE, HR9 9WB UNITED KINGDOM. REFERENCE Nº: EGS/2251256003/0 BATCH Nº: 14/0017/1PD AWARD NOTIFICATION The Awards Winners Exchange Lottery International wishes to inform you the results of the E-mail address ballot lottery program held today, your email account was selected as a winner of Five Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds Only. (£550,000.00). This result is now made available to you and your email address attached to Ticket # 044595 in the Category A bonus ball 02, 03, 21, 24, 38, 44, and bonus ball 47. Participants in the draws were randomly selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 e-mail addresses of Individuals/Companies from Europe, Africa, Americas, Asia, Australia, Canada, Middle East, and New Zealand as part of our electronic business Promotions Program. We advice that you keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. For the release of your winnings; kindly contact your claims agent with the following details to expedite the processing of your prize winning. Full Name,Address,Draw Date Country of Residence, Tel and Fax number,Occupation,Age, Sex, To begin your Claim, please contact our Regional Payments/Claims office immediately with the following email address; helpdesklotto2007@yahoo.co.uk, helpdesklotto@yahoo.co.uk or on telephone numbers; 44 703 9956682. All winning must be claimed not later than 14 days from the date of receipt of this email. After this date all prize winning will treated as Unclaimed. Note in order to avoid unnecessary delays; remember to quote your Reference and Batch numbers in all correspondence. Congratulations once again from all our members of staff and thank you for being part of our special quarterly promotional Lottery program. Yours Sincerely, Mr. Rick A Copeland (Informations and Promotion Manager)
_________________________________________________________________
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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam