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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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.

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:
  • "microsoft mega jackpot lottery" (no such lottery exists)
  • "microsoft lottery" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fudiciary" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • ",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 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.
  • +447024098657 (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.
  • watersmith_2007@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "uk national lottery" <s.uknational2008@googlemail.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:38:54 +0530
Subject: CONGRATULATION'S


NATION LOTTERY
NATION HOUSE PRESCOT, LONDON E1 8RP.
UNITED KINGDOM.
REF NO: M154S/WL06.
MICRO (LOTTERY) CHIP NO: 9465206
MICROSOFT MEGA
JACKPOT LOTTERY.
ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD PROMOTION.

Dear Mr/Mrs/Sir/
Today, we announce the 10 lucky winners of the MICROSOFT
LOTTERY PROGRAM held on 16th january. 2008. Your company or your
personal e-mail address, attached to the Chip Number: 8977742, won in
the First lottery category 001. Your email address has brought you an
unexpected luck, please read through this message
You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of
ONE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS (£1,500,000) in cash credited to
file
MSW/9080118308/02/LA. All participants were selected randomly from
World Wide Web' site through Microsoft computer ballot system
(MCBS) and extracted from over 100,000 individuals and companies.
For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information
confidential till your claims is processed and money remitted to you
in the manner you deem fit to claim your prize.
This is a part of our precautionary measure to avoid
unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements.

Note that all claims process and clearance procedures must be duly
completed early to avoid impersonation arising to the issue of double
claim, you are advised to keep this notice to yourself because we
shall not be responsible for any divert of funds as a result of you
disclosing your lottery award details,I hereby advice you to report
to the Microsoft lottery claims agent whose information is stated
below.

Contact Person:SMITH TONY
(Phone:+44-70240-98657
Fudiciary Agent,
Email:watersmith_2007@yahoo.com
To proceed with your claims, you would be required to fill the
Verification Form below completely and return back to us immediately.

THIS SHOULD BE COMPLETED BY THE BENEFICIARY OF THE STATED FUND, FOR
VERIFICATION BEFORE TRANSFER.

BENEFICIARY FIRST NAME......................
BENEFICIARY LAST NAME......................
NATIONALITY...................................
RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.........................
DATE OF BIRTH................................
SEX...............................................
TEL. NUMBER....................................
FAX NUMBER.....................................
EMAIL ADDRESS.................................
AMOUNT WON...................................
BATCH NUMBER..................................
REFERENCE Nº...................................
OCCUPATION.....................................
MARITAL STATUS...............................

DECLARATION:

I..........................................................HEREBY
DECLARE THAT THE ABOVE DATA ARE TRUE. THAT MY CLAIMS AGENT SHALL ACT
AS A FACILITATOR IN THE TRANSFER OF THE TOTAL FUND TO ME.

DATE...........................................
(YOUR FULLNAMES)...........................

Congratulations once again from the entire staff of the Microsoft
Award Team.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam