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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
  (+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:
  • "national lottery promotion" (no such lottery exists)
  • "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "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. )
  • "payment for the courier" (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. )
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "deadline" (they are rushing you so you don't have time to think properly)
  • "vat (5%)" (VAT rate in the UK is 17.5%, check the math)
  • "courier company" (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.
  • +447011132629 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: Chase Courier Limited <chasecourierltd@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2007 11:52:41 +0100 (BST)
Subject: CLAIMS OPTIONS AND COST OF DELIVERY OF YOUR WINNING CHEQUE!!!




Reg Order No:UK/CCS/401331

DEAR Rolando Naumann,

Thanks for your mail as You are welcome to CHASE COURIERS COMPANY LIMITED an affiliate of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY SWEEPSTAKES. We are pleased to be at your service.
This is to inform you that we got a corresponding mail from your fiduciary agent of the UK LOTTERY instructing us to send you your courier charges to enable you get your winnings in your residence. You have been officially cleared for payment by the Verifications Dept. at the headquarters of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM.
The original copy of this certificate from the British Government stating that the money was obtained legally through their UK National Lottery Promotions will be sent to you and as soon as you meet with any of the option selected and your winnings will be couriered to you immediately meanwhile a scanned copy of your winning certificate is attached to this mail which serve as an evidence that your winnings is intact and ready for delivery.You can now begin the final step of the claims process, which is the transferring of your cash prize to you in Cheque or via Electronic wire transfer. With regards to this, there are three options open to you, you are required to select the most convenient of the three.

OPTIONS
Courier/Transfer of your winning cheque to you via any of this
channel listed below:

Option:1
CHASE COURIERS ELETRONIC WIRE TRANSFER (12 Banking hrs)
Transfer Fees..........................£400.00
Account Activation..................£335.00
Insurance...............................£270.00
TOTAL.....................................£1005.00====$1,870.00 USD

Option:2
CHASE COURIERS PREMIUM SERVICE (24 working hrs)
Mailing &n bsp;........................£350.00
Insurance...............................£290.00
Vat (5%)................................£130.00
TOTAL.....................................£770.00====$1,432.70 USD

Option:3
CHASE COURIERS REGULAR SERVICE ( 2 working days)
Mailing ;..............................£280.00
Insurance............................£220.00
Vat (5%).............................£80.00
TOTAL..................................£580.00====$1,088.49 USD

The insurance company declined reverse payment for the courier, stating that it is against their professional policy towards ensuring the safe delivery of the cheque to you. That if a reverse payment is made, and something goes wrong, that we/you cannot sue the courier company or insurance company to recover the full value of the fund as stipulated in the cheque since payment for insurance cover was not made at point of mailing.With the above reason, reverse payment is ruled out. Forward the cost of mailing your cheque with any of the courier channel cost you choose above to us.

Note that your prize is protected by a hardcover insurance policy by which makes it impossible for us to deduct any amount from your winnings before it is Remitted to you.This means that the above charges cannot be deducted from the prize and hence must be provided by you before your prize is transferred to you because we operate on payment before delivery.

Please respond to this email by making a selection from the three options above and make your payment following the instructions below.


You are required to make this payment via any WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER OUTLET in the name of our New Accounts officer stated below:

NAME: Mr Chris Martin
ADDRESS:2 Haydons Road,SW191HL,
London,
United Kingdom.


The following payment information should be sent to this office via email in the absence of a scanner.
NAME OF SENDER:
ADDRESS OF SENDER:
NAME OF RECEIVER:
AMOUNT SENT:ANY QUESTION:
MONEY TRANSFER CONTROL NUMBER:

Note to send to this office the scanned copy of payment slip for comfirmation of payment.
Also be reminded that the deadline for the claiming of your winnings is exactly ONE WEEK after the receipt of this email. After this period, your cash prize will be deemed to have been forfeited by you and will be re-used in the drawings of the next edition of the lottery and you are also required to send us your bank details if you prefer our electronic wire transfer.

Good luck and Congratulations once again. Please send your response within the next 24hrs to this same email address or give us a call to enable us swing into action as regards the delivery/transfer of your winnings to you immediately.

Best Regards,
MR. LES RICHESON (Dispatch Officer)
CHASE COURIERS LIMITED.
Tel:+44 701113 2629
+44 701113 0915
Open 7days-24hrs-365days.




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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam