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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.
  • dickson.paul@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "UK CHARITY FOUNDATION AWARD PROMOTION" <despatch_0004@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: dickson.paul@yahoo.com
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2008 03:45:41 -0000
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION



--
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
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. Paul Dickson
Email: dickson.paul@yahoo.com
Phone# +44 7506795567



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 Non-
Private Information below 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:________________________


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