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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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• 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:

• The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "rovex house, hay hall rd." (address often used in fake lottery scams)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "money laundering" ("anti-terrorist", "anti-money laundering" or "drug-free" certificates are a common way for criminals in fake lottery scams and other Advance Fee scams to get you to send money to them. There are no such certificates in the real banking world. )
  • "money transfer control number" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. )
  • "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "hundred thousand united state dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
  • "vat (5%)" (VAT rate in the UK is 17.5%, check the math)
  • "courier service" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
  • "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
• 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!
• Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
• 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.
  • +447031930534 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mail Post Courier Service." <mailpostcourierservicesint@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:49:08 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Attn: Dear Valued Customer.


Attn: Dear Valued Customer,


We received your details.This is to inform you that we have in our possession for delivery to you:

1. A certified winning cheque
2. A pounds millions winning certificate.
3. Pounds millions Lottery payment document.

Please,be informed that we do not deliver to P.O.Box address or street corners but to your residence. We are a well established company offering courier and transport services 24 hours a day for priority delivery of letters, parcels and consignments to any destination.

Mail Post Courier Service with its high security storage and network of affiliate security partners and agents around the world provides you with storage and specialised courier services through which you could send high quality goods like precious stones, art crafts and classified commodities to any part of the world

Your Parcel has been classified a top priority delivery, with delivery identification as CLASSAGDS231-4844.

The description of the parcel to be delivered is stated thus;
An original certificate of weight :-------------0.17kg
Bonded draft of weight :-------------0.11kg
Weight of parcel :-------------0.32kg
Colour of Parcel :-------------Brown

Note that we do not operate on COD. Below are the mandatory delivery charges that you required to pay to enable us courier your parcel to you:

STATUS OF DELIVERY PLEASE CHOOSE ONE THAT BEST SUITS YOU

Option:1
EXPRESS DELIVERY (Overnight)
Mailing & bsp;..................................£205.00
Insurance..........................................£350.00
Vat (5%)...........................................£044.75
TOTAL..............................................£599.75


Option:2
PREMIUM SERVICE(2working days)
Mailing &n bsp;.................................£189.00
Insurance...........................................£350.00
Vat (5%)............................................£038.95
TOTAL...............................................£577.95

Option:3
REGULAR SERVICE(4working days)
Mailing ;..........................................£130.00
Insurance........................................£350.00
Vat (5%).........................................£019.00
TOTAL............................................£499.00

The charges are a little high because of the insurance cover we have undertaken in case of loss, damage or theft of your highly sensitive documents before it gets to you. We assume all responsibilities in case of any eventualities.

OPTION 2:

Condition: The cost of COT (commission of transfer) being charged by our transferring bank, which is (£2,500GBP) of the cash being transferred will be paid by you(winner).

Under option two which is the WIRE TRANSFER OPTION, your winning cheque which is a certified bank cheque that contains the sum of Five Hundred Thousand United Kingdom Pounds will be transfered directly into your local operative account in your country .

For the said amount to be deposited into your local operative account, you will have to forward to us via email details of the bank account which you want the transfer to be effected into.

Some of the requested informations includes:

*ACCOUNT HOLDER'S NAME*
*ACCOUNT NUMBER*
*SORT/SWIFT CODE*
*ROLL NUMBER/IBAN CODE*
*BANK NAME, ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS.*

Once this details is forwarded to us , we will inturn forward it to the paying bank who will effect the transfer of the sum of Five Hundred Thousand United Kingdom Pounds into your local account.

However as stated in our previous emails, payment of the cost of transfer will have to be effected/paid before the transfer can be effected.This is as a result of a recent anti -money laundering decree which is to reduce and regulate international transfers which exceeds the sum of a hundred thousand united states dollars.

This decree states that before International transfers that exceeds the sum of one hundred thousand united state dollars(i.e $100,000.00) can be successfully transfered and effected , a mandatory payment of 0.5 percent(i.e 0.5%) of the total sum to be transfered will have to be effected to the transferring bank before the transfer can be carried out.This is normally termed COST OF TRANSFER(COT).

The above means that before the transfer of your winnings can be successfully carried out into your local account, payment of the sum of two thousand five hundred pounds i.e (2,500.00 GBP) which accumulates as 0.5% of the total sum of Five hundred thousand British pounds will have to be transfered to the credit officer of the paying bank.

Note that your Price is protected by a hardcover insurance policy by GEO TRUST INSURANCE FIRM, which makes it impossible to deduct any amount from the money before it has been remitted to you. This means that the above charges cannot be deducted from the Price and hence must be provided by you before your Price is transferred to you.

You are to make the payment through Western Union Money Transfer so as to speed up the process of delivery.The payment should be made in the name of our accounts officer;

Larry Smithson
3. rd. Floor.
Henry Wood House.
3-6 Langham Place
London

Notify this office on completion of payment,either with a scanned copy of the transfer slip or you may email the following information as they appear on the Western Union transfer slip.

1.Name And Address of Sender
2.Amount Sent
3.Money Transfer Control Number(MTCN)
4.Test Question And Answer If Any
5.Name of Receiver

A receipt of the above payment will be couriered to you from our office,along with your winning cheque and certificate.

Your parcel shall be dispatched to you immediately we receive ab confirmation of payment of the above charges.

A dispatch notice indicating the date and time of departure and expected date of delivery will be sent to you.You will be required to sign for the parcel personally with a copy of your international passport or your driver's license as identification.

All orders not dispatched within Five(5) working days from this communication will be returned to the lottery house as unclaimed.

Mail Post Courier Service,glad to be of service to you.

Steve White
Customer Services,
Mail Post Courier Service,
Rovex House, Hay Hall Rd., Tyseley,
Birmingham. B11 2AG. England
phone: +447031930534
+447011150077


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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam