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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:
  • "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)
  • ",500,000" (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.
  • account_dept@mail2finance.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Account Depth" <account_depth@excite.com> (may be fake)
Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 19:23:43 +0800
Subject: ........XMAS AND NEW YEAR BONANZA......

XMAS AND NEW YEAR BONANZA CONTACT THE PAYING BANK REF NO:MSW/56B672GH/L

STAATS LOTERIJ/MICROSOFT EMAIL LOTTERY AWARD PROMOTION:UK/ASIA.


Finally today, we announce the winners of the MICROSOFT/STAATS LOTERIJ MEGA
JACKPOT LOTTO WINNINGS PROGRAMS held on Monday,26th November , 2007. Your
company or your personal e-mail address, attached to winning number
23-76-06-54-42-100, With serial number 647489, consequently won in the Tenth
lottery category.

You have been approved for lump sum pay out of $1,500,000 USD in cash Credited
to file REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/L and winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100.
Selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized
email selection machine (TOPAZ) from a database of over 1,000,000 email
addresses drawn from all the continents of the world.


The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from an
exclusive list of 29,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies
picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet.

No ticket were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticket
numbers for representation and privacy.

This is to encourage our prominent Microsoft Internet Explorer users all over
the world this is to encourage users to Continues the use of E-mail and non
users to try and use emails.

Your fund has been deposited with the paying bank with your REF NO:
MSW/56B-672GH/L and winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100.

To claim your winning prize, you should contact the paying Bank by email for
Processing and remittance of your winning funds to you.

The Claims Processor:
Name: Mrs. Natasha Melvin
For:
Dr. Mas Anderson
Claim Department
Southern Finance Bank
Email: account_dept@mail2Finance.com

Do email the above email address all at once. In order to avoid unnecessary
delays and complications, please remember to quote your reference and winning
numbers in all correspondences with your claims officer.

You are to keep all lotto information away from the general public especially
your ticket number and ballot number.
(This is important as a case of double claims will not be entertained)


PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE TO SEND THE BELOW INFORMATION REQUIRED TO CLAIM YOUR
WINNING PRIZE:
1.Full Name:..............................................................
2.Address:.................................................................
3.Nationality:............................................................
4.Age:.........................Date of Birth:............................
5.Occupation:.............................................................
6.Phone:...............Phone 2:...................Fax:.................
7.State of Origin:......................Country:........................
8.Sex.......................................................................


Sincerely,
Mrs. Maurrine H. Diane
Secretary



Dr. Phillip George
Online Co-ordinator


LOTTERY SPONSOR
Microsoft Corporation U.K./ASIA

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam