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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.
• 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.
  • +447035902009 (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.
  • harry_james200@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Henry Morgan" <henrymorgan@klikni.cz>
Reply-To: morganhenry2007@hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 14:49:19 -0700
Subject: HELLO DEAR


WINNING NOTICE

Hello,

This is to notify you that your e-mail address attached to
ticket number: B9564 7560 4545 100 with serial number 046560 drew the
winning numbers 5 21 35 38 47 48 Bonus 45 in our weekly
National Lotto 6/49 lottery draws held on Sat, May 17, 2008 in
Essex United Kingdom. All participants were selected randomly from
World Wide Web site through computer draws system and extracted
from over 10,000,00 companies and personal e-mail addresses.

You have been approved to claim a total sum of Nine Hundred and
Forty Five Thousand United States Dollars (US$945,000) in cash
credited to file EAAL/9080118308/04. Please note that your lucky
winning numbers fall within our African booklet representative
office in Ghana as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this,
your US$945,000 would be released to you by an accredited
commercial Bank in Africa.

To file for your claim, contact our Payment Office in Africa
immediately you read this message for quick and urgent release
of your prize to you. Contact information is as follow: -

Name: Harry james
Email: harry_james200@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: +233 24 4101543

Congratulations once more from all members and staff of this
program to all that have successfully won this competition and
thank you for being part of our promotional lottery program.

Yours faithfully,
Henry Morgan
+44 703 590 2009

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam