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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:

• 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.
  • +447045707109 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: BRITISH LOTTERY <celadna@iol.cz>
Reply-To: infouk.lottery@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:00:37 GMT
Subject: Ticket No: 20511465463-764




THE LOTTERY DEPARTMENT UK=2E
22 Garden Close=2CPE9 2YP=2C London
Dear Winner=2C

This is to inform you that you have been selected for a cash prize of =A3=
1=2C000=2C000=2E00 =

(British Pounds) held on the 30th of July 2008 in London Uk=2E

The selection process was carried out through random selection in ourcom=
puterized email selection system(ess) =

from adatabase of over 250=2C000email addresses drawn from hich you were=
selected=2E

The BRITISH UK=2E Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board=2E To =
begin the processing of your prize you are to contact our fiduaciary cla=
ims department formore information as regards procedures to claim yourpr=
ize=2E

Name=3A Mrs=2E Fredina David
TELL=3A +44 70457 07109
Email=3A infouk=2Elottery=40yahoo=2Eco=2Euk

Contact him by sending him with the underlisted informations

*1=2EFull Name=3A 2=2EFull Address=3A 3=2EOccupation=3A * *4=2EAge=3A 5=2E=
Sex=3A 6=2ENationality=3A 7=2ETelephone Number=3A *

Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for be=
ing part of our promotional program=2E

Carolyn Rex
Online Co-coordinator
U=2EK NATIONAL PROMOTIONS
Ticket No=3A 20511465463-764

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam