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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "national lottery promotion" (no such lottery exists)
• 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)
• 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.
  • +447024034244 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • smithmartins.agent@yahoo.it (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Australian Lottery Inc <auilp2121@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 04:11:20 +0000
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE WON US$1,000,000,00





CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE WON US$1,000,000,00
REF: 435062725
BATCH: 7050470902/189
WINNING NO: GB8101/LPRC

Dear Winner,

We are delighted to inform you of your prize which was released today being 27th September 2007, from the Australian International Lottery Promotion, which is fully based on an Electronic Selection of winners using their e-mail addresses from some sites.

Your email address was attached to Ticket Number; 4700172507056490102 and Serial Number 7741134002.This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows 5-13-33-37-42 and Bonus Number 17,which consequently won the lottery in the second category.

You hereby have been approved a lump sum pay of USD$1,000,000.00 (ONE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS ONLY) in cash credit file Ref: ILP/HW47509/09 from the total cash prize shared amongst eight lucky winners in this category.

All participants were selected through a Computer Balloting System drawn from Nine Hundred Thousand E-mail addresses from Canada,Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our international promotion program which is conducted annually.

This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they have an operational base.

Furthermore, your details (e-mail address) fall within our European Representative Office in London,UK as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of USD$1,000,000.00 (ONE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS ONLY) will be released to you from our Headquarters in London.

To claim your prize, please contact our Director of Finance.

Name: SMITH MARTINS
Email: smithmartins.agent@yahoo.it
Tel: +44 702 403 4244
(10am to 5pm London Time)

Please quote your Reference, Batch and Winning Numbers which can be found on the top left corner of this notification as well as your Full Names, Address and Telephone Number to help locate your file easily.

For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize released to you.This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this program by non-participants or unofficial personnel.

Note: All winnings MUST be claimed before the 14th of October 2007; otherwise all funds will be returned as Unclaimed and eventually donated to Charity Organizations.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs. Kate Ross.
Coordinator, Australian International Lottery Inc.

NOTE: Do not reply to me, rather you are to contact SMITH MARTINS immediately on:
Name: SMITH MARTINS
Email: smithmartins.agent@yahoo.it

Tel: +44 702 403 4244



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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam