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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")
  • ",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)
• 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.
  • mrjohnsonphillip@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "lottery award" <la73617@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mm_yyfk@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:10:56 -0700
Subject: winner


UK CHARITY FOUNDATION AWARD PROMOTION,
Suite 154, Clarendon Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, WD61JF, London
United Kingdom.

Dear Winner,

We happily announce to you that you have won our International Charity Award
of
US$150,000 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand US Dollars) during the 2008
Global
Internet Summit titled "Discovering Greatness", held in the London,
United
kingdom. All 30 winning Addresses were randomly selected from a batch of
50,000,000 international Emails. Your Email address emerged
alongside 29 others as a category 2 winner in this year's Annual UK CHARITY
FOUNDATION PROMOTION LOTTERY draw. No tickets were sold.

Consequently, you have therefore been approved for a total pay out of
US$150,000
only. The following particulars are attached to your lotto payment order:

(i) Winning Serial Number: 900-102-447
(ii) Email Ticket Number: UK754/22/76
(iii) Lotto Code Number: TL09622UK
(iv) File Ref Number: ICA/11-GIS/2008UK

Please contact the under listed claims Agent as soon as possible for the
immediate release of your winnings:

Claims Agent:
Mr. Johnson Phillip
E-=MAIL: mrjohnsonphillip@yahoo.com
Phone# +44 750679556


N.B: Steps to claiming your prize;

1. Contact your claims Agent immediately you receive this notification to
begin
the claims process.

2. You are required to send your full name(s) as it should appear on the
Certificate of Winning that would be issued to you, and fill the below
Non-Private Information when contacting the Agent.

A. FULL NAME(S): ________________________________
B. ADDRESS, CITY, STATE, COUNTRY: ________________
C. SEX: ________________________________________
D. AGE: _______________________________________
E. OCCUPATION: _______________________________
F. WINNING E-MAIL ADDRESS: ____________________________
G. TELEPHONE NUMBER: ________________________
H. File Ref Number:________________________

3. Also quote your File reference Number as given above while contacting the
Agent. This is very important and compulsory on first correspondence with
your
claims Agent.

On behalf of the entire UK CHARITY FOUNDATION stakeholders, I say
congratulations!!!

Sincerely,

Cindy Charlton
Promotion Manager

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam