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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.
  • +447024020726 (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.
  • sglobalbond@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Lottery Uk <lotteryuk24@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: sglobalbond@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:29:50 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: DEAR WINNER.....



National British Lottery
Liverpool,
L70 1NL United KingdomP O Box 1010


CONGRATULATIONS


Dear Winner,

You have won the sum of $130,500.00USD (One hundred and thirty thousand, Five hundred dollars) from the National British Lottery on our 2008 first year charity bonanza. The winning ticket was selected from a DataBase of Internet Email Users,from which your email address came out as one of the winning coupon.

We hereby urge you to claim the winning amount quickly as this is first year charity bonanza lottery. Failure to claim your win will result into the reversion of the fund to our following month. You are therefore requested to contact The fiducially claims agent:

Name: NORBERT FERGURSON
Email: sglobalbond@yahoo.co.uk

Contact him with your winning refrences immediately as stated below:

Ref: UK/9420X/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369Ref: UK/9420X/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369
Ticket number: 5647560054
Serial number: 5368/02
Lucky number: 50-18-22-24-32-33

Once again, Congratulations

Regards,
DR PAUL BEYLER
(Customer Service Agent)
+447024020726

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam