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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:

• 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:
  • ",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.
  • +447045765539 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: Virgin Lottery Organization UK <virginlottoorg@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:46:09 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Congratulations! You have won in the golden category.


Dear Winner,

It is our pleasure to inform you that you have emerged as a Category "A" winner of the Virgin International Lottery Promotions United Kingdom (UK) 2008
Your chosen email has won a total sum of £2,000,000 (Two Million Pound Sterling Only) this is part of the Country's Programme to fund for the Olympic Games in 2012 the £1.5bn Olympic Lottery puzzle (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4719851.stm) The Lottery Organizations must raise £1.5bn over the next five years to pay its share of the public money going into the Olympics Games in 2012.
A further £650m will be raised from council tax in London and another £250m from the London Development Agency, while similar sums will be raised from ticket sales, marketing, sponsorship and the sale of television rights.
All participants were selected through our microsoft computer ballot system drawn from a collation of frequent internet users all over the world from America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia,as part of International Email Promotions Program, which is conducted annually to encourage the use of internet and computers worldwide.Your winning
information is stated below;
Ref N0: PILS/VIGINT/UK/
Ticket number A/04-3919.
Batch No: WNTO/7416/VA/ES
Lucky No: 69-810-278
Serial No: MUOTI/82536
Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your £2,000,000 (Two Million Pound Sterling) will be released to you by any of our payment offices in Europe.
To immediately collect your prize, please contact our Category "A" financial handlers with information below:
Name:
Age:
Sex:
Address:
Email:
Phone:
Occupation/Profession:
Country:
International Passport/Driver's License. {Scanned copy photo page}
Mr. Phillip Kinns
Fiduciary/Claim Agent
P O BOX 1010
LIVERPOOL, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +447045765539
Fax: +447005981961

You are advised to respond accordingly so that our auditors can instruct our bankers to open an account in your favour.
Note:You are seriously advised once again to keep all winning lottery information and numbers from the public in line with our company security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by unscrupulous individuals.
Sincerely,
Cynthia Adams
THE LOTTERY COORDINATOR,
VIRGIN INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY UK.


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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam