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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
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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.

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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: notification@laprimitivainc.com
Reply-To: vitalicioseguros@ozu.es
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:11:32 +0000
Subject: AWARD NOTIFICATION


LA PRIMITIVA AWARD, ESPANA
OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD DEPT
REF: EMLA/61-ILGI0509/45
BATCH: EMLA/15/096/WRCS

Our Dear Winner,

We happily announce to you the draw (#978) LA PRIMITIVA Lottery International Sweepstakes program held on 30th November, 2007. Your e-mail address, attached to ticket number 5647560054188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers 4-9-22-24-30-41-20 "bonus no 46 and won the lottery in the 2nd category i.e. match 5 plus bonus.

You are therefore approved for a lump sum payment of EUR 315,810.00 (THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED AND TEN EUROS) only in cash accredited to file reference number, LAP/069713160512. This is from a total cash prize of EUR 5,368,770.00 (FIVE MILLION,THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHT THOUSAND, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY EUROS) Shared among the seventeen international winners in the last annual draw. Congratulations!
All participants were selected through a computer ballot systems / shopping ticket-foils and traveling ticket-foils drawn from 25,000 email address and individual names from Australia, New Zealand, Europe, America, Asia, Africa and North America as part of our annual-international promotional programs.

Your payment would be released to you by our payment office here in Spain. Please note that 10 % of your winning prize belongs to your agent as part of the benefits of the contract awarded to them by the La Primitiva lottery. For payment processing please contact your claim´s agent:

Name: DON A ALVARO
Company Name: VITALICIO SEGUROS S.A
E-mail: vitalicioseguros@ozu.es
Telfax: +34671467362

Yours faithfully,
ESPINOSA J. SANCHEZ
(Vice President)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam