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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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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:

• 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:
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "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 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.
  • officef703@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "JEAN LUC" <labonte20@ig.com.br>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2008 12:06:12 +0200
Subject: OFFICIAL WINNING NOTIFICATION:


*FROM THE DESK OF THE MICROSOFT
COORDINATOR {MICROSOFT GLOBAL E-MAIL LOTTERY}
UK INTERNATIONAL PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT
LONDON ENGLAND.
FILE REF:UK/5564/40/07/MICS
BATCH: MC11/834/5PDH /UK

OFFICIAL WINNING NOTIFICATION:

DEAR WINNER:

It is obvious that this notification will come to you as a surprise but
please find time to read it carefully as we congratulate you over your
success in the following official publication of results of the E-mail
electronic online Sweepstakes organized by Microsoft,in conjunction with the
foundation for the promotion of software products,(F.P.S.)held on the 20th
of Nov 2007, in London England.

Wherein your electronic email address emerged as one of the online winning
emails in the 1st category and therefore attracted a cash award of
€800,000.00 (Eight Hundred Thousand pounds).
Our winners are arranged into four categories with different winning prizes
accordingly in each category. They are arranged in this format below:

CATEGORY NO.OF WINNERS WINNING PRIZES
1st. 2 €800,000.00 pounds each
2nd. 8 €500,000.00 pounds each
3rd. 13 €300,000.00 pounds each
4th. 27 €180,000.00 pounds each*

*We write to officially notify you of this award and to advise you to
contact the processing office immediately upon receipt of this message for
more information concerning the verification, processing and eventual
payment of the above prize to you.
It is important to note that your award information was released with the
following particulars attached to it.*

*(1) Award numbers: UK56/7765
(2) Email ticket numbers: UK553/26/96
(3) Batch numbers: MC11/834/5PDH /UK
(4) The file reference numbers: UK/5564/40/07/MICS
{5} Serial Numbers:McST/006/UK4657

For verification purpose be sure to include:

(1) Your mailing address.
(2) Your Tel/Fax numbers.
(3) Your Nationality/Country.
{4}Your Full Names*

*To file for your claim,Please contact your Validating Officer for
VALIDATION of your winning within Twenty-nine working days of this winning
notification. Winnings that are not validated within Twenty-nine working
days of winning notification are termed void and invalid. You are required
to mention the above particulars of your award in every correspondence to
enable the Agent validate your winning.

CONTACT:
*******************************************************************
FOREIGN TRANSFER MANAGER
NAME MR.HENRY MOORE.
MICROSOFT SECURITY DEPARTMENT(UK).
E-mail: **officef703@gmail.com* <officef703@gmail.com>*
********************************************************************
The Microsoft Internet E-mail lottery Awards is sponsored by our
CEO/Chairman, Bill Gates: and a consortium of software promotion companies.
The Intel Group, Toshiba, Dell Computers and other International Companies.
The Microsoft internet E-mail draw is held periodically and is organized to
encourage the use of the Internet and promote computer literacy worldwide.
Once again on behalf of all our staff,

CONGRATULATIONS!

Yours faithfully,
Mrs.L. Rita Brown
MICROSOFT E-MAIL LOTTERY PROMOTION COORDINATOR.*

*
*

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam