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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:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "claim agent" (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)
  • "00,000.00" (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.
  • +447031913301 (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.
  • johnmartins_claimsagent06@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "MICROSOFT AWARD TEAM" <MICROSOFT@hamdard.net.pk>
Reply-To: johnmartins_claimsagent06@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:56:48 +0500
Subject: MICROSOFT AWARD TEAM 2008 WINNING NOTIFICATION


MICROSOFT AWARD TEAM
MMicrosoft Corporation
#1 Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052.
Ref: BTD/968/06
Batch: 409978E.


Dear Lucky winner,

WINNING NOTIFICATION
**********************
The prestigious Microsoft Award has set out and successfully
organised a Sweepstakes for our email owners for the month of April,
2008. £100,000,000.00 (One Hundred Million Great British Pounds) is
been rolled out to all our email account owners. Participants for the
draws
were randomly selected and drawn from a wide range of web hosts which
we enjoy their patronage. Your email was luckily drawn
by a computer ballot system as one of our winners in our experimental
lottery bonanza from the prestigous MICROSOFT ONLINE PROMOTION. Thus,
making you the winner.
Your email address as indicated was drawn and attached to ticket
number 008795727498 with serial numbers BTD/9080648302/06 and drew
the lucky numbers 14-21-25-39-40-47(20) which subsequently won you
£1,000,000.00GBP ( One Million Great British Pounds) as one of the
jackpot winners in this draw. You have therefore won the total sum
of £1,000,000.00GBP ( One Million Great British Pounds).
Note that you are to keep this winning notification confidential from
everyone and your winning lucky number for future claims.

Please Contact our Disgnated Fiduciary Agent For Your Won Prize.
DR JOHN MARTINS.
E-mail: johnmartins_claimsagent06@yahoo.com.hk
TEL NO: +44 703 191 3301
***************************************************
KINDLY FILL BELOW YOUR DETAILS AND SEND IT TO OUR DISGNATED CLAIM
AGENT.
Name Of
Winner:____Sex____Nationality:____Age:______Occupation::____Marital
Status:__Tel No:_____Fax No:_____
Postal Address:___Country:_____Amount Won:______Winning E-mail
Address:_____Lucky Number___

Sincerely,
Dr Mrs Matida Coker jp
Head Customercare Service
Microsoft Promotion Team

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam