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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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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "million pounds" (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)
  • ",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.
  • claims.officer7@gmail.com

Fraud email example:

From: luschultz@mchsi.com
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:25:11 +0000
Subject: TOYOTA PROMOTION 2008

TOYOTA PROMOTION 2008
This is to inform you that you have won a prize
money of 3,000,000,00(three million pounds
sterling) and a car ( 2008 TOYOTA CAMRY ) for
the Prize Promotion which is Organized by The
FreeLottoSweepstakes.The Free Lotto
Sweepstakes! collects all the
email addresses of the people that are active
online, among the millions that subscribed
to Yahoo and Hotmail and few from other e-mail
providers. Six people are selected monthly to
benefit from this promotion and you are one of
the Selected Winners.Contact claims officer through this
email:claims.officer7@gmail.com
BATCH NUMBER: YPA/07-43658
REFERENCE NUMBER: 2007234522
PIN: 1206
FILL AND RETURN
Name__________________
Telephone Number ____________
Residential Address _____________
Marital Status______________
Occupation_______________
Age______
Country____________

Congratulations!! once again.
Yours in service,
MR SMITH DAVID

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam