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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
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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:

• 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!

Fraud email example:

From: MAIL POST COURIER <mailpostcourier_deliverydept@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2007 04:48:27 +0100 (BST)
Subject: URGENT RESPONSE FROM MAILPOST COURIER DELIVERY DEPARTMENT


Dear Winner,

We are in note of your e-mail and it was well noted, This is to notify you that i want to tell you that why you should called me trickstar and also note that if you do not want to pay for this delivery charges nobody is holding kindly forget about the winnings and we will send it back to the coca-cola online lottery board account in replacement of another lucky winner and i dont even understand what you mean .

You are saying we should deliver your winnings to your destination before you pay for any delivery and you dont want to pay for shipment .

Hope to get your e-mail soon.

Regards
Thomas Lampard


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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam