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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")
  • "barr." (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
• 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.
  • +447045776593 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • briansmith_ausvisalottery@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "barrister brian" <briansmith01ausvisa@googlemail.com>
Reply-To: briansmith_ausvisalottery@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 07:42:36 -0700
Subject: AUSTRALIAN LOTTERY NOTIFICATION

*14 FRATON ROADFULHAM, AUSTRALIARef: EASWL/941OYI/02/SHYNBatch: 12/25/003419*** * WINNING NOTIFICATION:*** * **DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.****OFFICE OF THE CO-ORDINATOR,AUSTRALIAN VISA LOTTERY,THROHGH THE AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSION.**Date: 6/8/2008**Winning no:KB8701/LPRCDear Winner, ** CONGRATULATIONS!! **We are delighted to inform you of your winning on the 6th of August 2008from the Australian International visa Lottery Programme(www.nationalvisaservice.com) which is fully based on an electronic selection of winnersusing their e-mail addresses. Your name was attached to ticket number;575061725 8056490902 serial number 6741137002 This batch draws the luckynumbers as follows: 4-13-31-37-42 bonus number 31,which consequently won thelottery in the second category. All participants were selected through acomputer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addressesfrom Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Africaas part of our international promotions program which is conducted annually.This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinationalcompanies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in thecommunities where they have operational base and in affiliation with theAbbey National Bank Plc London, you are entitled with a huge lump of$750,000.00 U.S dollars which will help ease your traveling expenses.****HOW TO FILE YOUR CLAIM : Simply contact our Fiducial Agent, Barr. BrianSmith at; briansmith_ausvisalottery@yahoo.com<http://us.mc365.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=briansmith_ausvisalottery@yahoo.com>tofile for your claim,**Please quote your Date of draw, Reference Number, Batch Number and WinningNumber, which can be found on the top-left corner of this message. Also, youshould give in your telephone number to help locate your file easily. Forsecurity reasons, we advice all winners to keep this informationconfidential from the public until your claim is processed and your visa hasbeen released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid doubleclaiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this programme bynon-participant or unofficial personnel.Note, all winnings MUST be claimed by the 19th of August 2008; otherwise allfunds will be returned as unclaimed and eventually donated to charity.**Congratulations once again on your winning!DO NOT REPLY THIS EMAIL SIMPLY CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT AT;briansmith_ausvisalottery.com.OR CALL +447045776593.****Best Regards.Mrs. S.Cathy Raymonds**(For the co-ordinator)**+447045776843.*****

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam