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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:
  • "australian lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
• 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.
  • +2348038866102 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "Rev. John Williams" <agent.jwilliams@consultant.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2007 19:14:25 -0400
Subject: ATTENTION: Albertina Hirschder...



Hello Albertina Hirschder,Compliment of the day! I received your mail and I want to use this opportunity to congratulate you. This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by an organization of some multinational companies in the Australia that operates business with Financier Company, after the end the whole year, the use to bring out some amount of percentage to develop the nations, as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they have business associates (other companies they transact business with). that is their international promotions program (Australian Lottery Program) which is conducted annually. This Australian Lottery is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses, All participants were selected through a computer balloting system drawn from nine hundred and ninety nine thousand e-mail addresses from Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania, that is all I know about this lottery, for more question contact the financier company. Am your Claim Agent Rev. Mr. John Williams (Australian Lottery's Representative in Nigeria) and I have verify your data information about you from the Australian Lottery Management Board. And I have received ready your Winning Certificate that bears your original information from the Australian Lottery Board. I Should be sending it to you the Certificate (Soft Copy). But to process further, I will want you to send me your International Passport (Original Scanned Copy, Very Important), Personal Data's like Full Names, Gender, Date Of Birth, Marital Status, Nationality, Religion, Occupation, resident Address (including City, State), current address,Office Address, Mobile phone No, House Phone No, Fax No. and your Email Address, for more verification if you are the rightful person. It is set in place to avoid double claiming or unauthorized winner. And, so that, I wouldn't make mistake in the processing of your winning fund of the lucky winner. And this information will help me in processing your winning prize. For more clarification call me on my private number: +234 803 886 6102. Please the late respond is at a result of not having much time to be reading mails every moment because of official duties. So any time you reply me, just give me a call so that i will be aware. That will help me serve you as it should. You are free to call me for any questions okay? Once more congratulation. Waiting for your reply. Rev. John WilliamsYour Claim Agent
_________________________________________________________________
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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam