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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:
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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:

• 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:
  • "million 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)
  • ",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)
  • "ecowas " (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
• 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.
  • +2348054759376 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)
• 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.
  • contact_ecowasabuja2007@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs.Mary Jones" <tjgrates@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: contact_ecowasabuja2007@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 13:32:11 -0500
Subject: NOTIFICATION FOR CASH AID

FONDAZIONE AND ECOWAS DONATIONS 2007

Viale Castro Pretorio

105 00185 Roma

ITALY ROME

http://www.fondazionedivittorio.it



NOTIFICATION FOR CASH AID.

This is to inform you that you have won a prizemoney of two Million United
States Dollars, ($2,000,000.00)as one of the final recipients of a Cash
Grant/Donation for your own personal,education and business developmentfor
this year 2007 Lottery promotion which is organized by FONDAZIONE AND ECOWAS
DONATIONS 2007.



FONDAZIONE DONATIONS 2007, collects all the email addresses of the people
that are active online,among the millions that subscribed to the Internet.we
only select five people every Year as our winners throughelectronic balloting
System without the winnerapplying,we congratulate you for being one of the
people selected.

These are your identification numbers:



Batch number.....................FODAZ 09102XN

Reff number.......................ECW35447XN

Winning number...................ECW09788

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

(CONTACT THE HEAD OFFICE FINANCE DEPARTMENT NIGERIA.)

Name:Dr,DONALD OSARO

Tel: +2348054759376

Fax: +2348022394747

E-mail: contact_ecowasabuja2007@yahoo.com.hk

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

FULL NAME:?

RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:?

OCCUPATION:?

COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE?

TEL NO:?

EMAIL:?

WINNING NUMBER:?

BATCH NUMBER:?

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Thank you and Accept my hearty congratulations once again!

Yours faithfully,

Mrs.Mary Jones.


___________________________________________________________

Fidelity Communications Webmail - http://webmail.fidnet.com

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam