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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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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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:
  • "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • ",000,000" (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)
• 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.
  • claimfiles001@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Winning Notice <dperovic@bigpond.net.au>
Reply-To: microclaims222@aol.com
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2007 12:12:11 +0000
Subject: Confirm Your Mail.


Confirm Your Mail.

FROM DESK OF THE CO-ORDINATOR{MICRO/STAATS GLOBAL EMAIL LOTTERY}
Kindly Reply to claimfiles001@aim.com
Ref. Number: 132/756, Batch Number: BC-722
Your email ID has won $1,000,000.00(One Million US Dollar)in the first category of our computer ballot email lottery.
To claim your winning, contact our claims department office:
E-Mail: claimfiles001@aim.com Tel: + 31- 626 651 929.
Dr.Frank Jones/Mrs Bianca Petra. (Staatslottery claims office, Amsterdam-Netherlands).
This lottery was conducted in order to encourage the use of Internet around the globe,and all participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from over 100,000 company and 50,000,000 individual email addresses and names from all over the world.
Sincerely,
Mrs Susan Smith (Promotion Co-ordinator)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam