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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
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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:
  • "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "u.k " (this email uses bad English)
• 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.
  • +447031969480 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "Ben Lowery" <blowery@gram.edu>
Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2008 08:13:10 -0500
Subject: The Uk National Lottery.

The Uk National Lottery.
12 Bridge Street, Staines Middlesex,
TW18 4TP United Kingdom.

Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

Dear Email Owner,

This is to inform you that, your email have won a prize money of 852,000.00 (Eight Hundred And Fifty Two Thousand Pounds) for the month of May 2008 Lottery promotion which is organized by UK NATIONAL LOTTERY AWARD TEAM, collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online, we only select Four (4) people every Year as our winners through electronic balloting System without the winner applying online all buying of ticket. We congratulate you for being one of the people selected.

YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS ATTACHED TO TICKET NUMBER: 57522465896530
WITH SERIAL NUMBER: 3652-662
DREW LUCKY NUMBERS: 47-14-18-23-31-45

To begin your claims please contact our licensed and accredited agent Assigned to you

MR. GRAHAM SMITH
UKNL CLAIM AGENT OFFICER
Email: grahamsmith3@uknpromotion.com
Phone: +44 7 031 969 480

You are therefore advised to send the following information to the Claims agent to facilitate them and in order for them to have access in Proceeding of your winning.

1. Full Name:
2. Country:
3. Contact Address:
4. Cell Phone Number:
5. Office Phone Number:
6. Marital Status:
7. Age:
8. Occupation:
9. Company:
10. Winning Email:

Once again congratulations from the entire staff of the U.k National Lottery.
Warm regards,
Dr.Ben Lowery.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam