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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 agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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.
  • +447011150040 (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.
  • claim.process@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Bill Laurie <bl_uklottery@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:08:25 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Sweepstake lottery


Sweepstake lottery
Water Gate Inc.
Ref: 575061
Batch: 8056490902188

ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD WINNING NOTIFICATION NOTICE.

Dear Winner,

We are pleased to inform you of the Result of watergate inc. lottery Promo held on the 29th of January 2008 Which is Fully based on an electronic selection of winners Using their e-mail addresses.Your email address drew the lucky numbers:31-6-26-13-35-7,which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category. You have been approved a lump Sum pay of £1.500, 000.00 (ONE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND BRITISH POUNDS) in cash credited to file ref: ILP/HW 575061/07 From the total cash prize shared amongst five lucky Winners in this category.All participants where Selected through a computer/mail 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 end of year program, which is conducted annually.This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by watergate inc. and some multinational companies and also the British Government as part of their social Responsibility to the
citizens in the communities Where they have operational base. Further more your Details (e-mail address) falls within our european Representative office in London, United Kingdom as Indicated,your prize will be released to you from our Regional branch office here in LONDON.

Please contact the undesigned for more details on how to cliam your prize;

Mr.Paul Hoover Jr.
REGIONAL CLAIMS AGENT
E-MAIL: claim.process@yahoo.com
Tel:+44-701-115-0040 Fax:+44-7077-081-828

To file for your claim. Please quote your Date of Draw, Reference Number, Batch Number and Winning Number, which can be found on the top-left corner of This message.Also, you should furnish us with your telephone Number for easy communication. 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.

Note: All winnings MUST be claimed two weeks from the day this notification mail is sent,otherwise all funds will be forfeited. Congratulations once again on your winning!

Sincerely,
Mr.Bill Laurie


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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam