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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "microsoft corporation word lottery" (no such lottery exists)
  • "microsoft lottery" (no such lottery exists)
  • "ms-word lotto" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "from: the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "hundred thousand united states dollars" (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.
  • isabelowen01@hotmail.com

Fraud email example:

From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?lian.smith@aliceadsl.fr?=" <lian.smith@aliceadsl.fr>
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2008 09:17:43 +0200
Subject:
=?iso-8859-1?Q?YOUR_EMAIL_ACCOUNT_WON_THE_MICROSOFT_LOTTERY(CONGRATULATION)?=


THE MICROSOFT AWARD PROGRAM

FROM: THE DESK OF THE E-MAIL PROMOTIONS MANAGER INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT, MICROSOFT CORPORATION WORD LOTTERY UNITED STATES.61-70 Southampton Row, Bloomsbury NEWYORK UNITED STATES WC1B 4AR.
REFERENCE NO: MSW-L/500-36937,BATCH NO: 2008 JULY #25

WINNER NO: 7
MOTTO: FIGHTING POVERTY ROUND THE WORLD

Dear Winner,

MICROSOFT COOPERATION MANAGEMENT WORLDWIDE ARE PLEASED TO INFORM YOU THAT YOU ARE A WINNER OF OUR ANNUAL MS-WORD LOTTO LOTTERY CONDUCTED IN AMERICA BEING THE HOST OF THE EVENT FOR THIS PRESENT YEAR MEGA JACKPOT LOTTO WINNING PROGRAMS HELD ON 30TH,JULY 2008.
YOUR PERSONAL E-MAIL ADDRESS OR COMPANY EMAIL WAS ATTACHED TO JULY MSW LOTTERY. WITH SERIAL NUMBER S/M-00168 DREW THE LUCKY NUMBERS 987-13-965-37-1-20-83, AND CONSEQUENTLY WON IN THE FIRST LOTTERY CATEGORY. YOU HAVE THEREFORE BEEN APPROVED FOR LUMP SUMS OF $ 100,000 (USD ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) PAYABLE IN CASH CREDITED TO FILE REF NO: MSW-L/500-36937 THIS IS FROM TOTAL PRIZE MONEY OF $ 2.500,000,000 USD, SHARED AMONG THE TWENTY-FIVE (25) LUCKY INTERNATIONAL WINNERS IN FIRST AND SECOND CATEGORY.
ALL PARTICIPANTS WERE SELECTED FROM WORLDWIDE WEBSITES ESPECIALLY HOTMAIL/YAHOO THROUGH OUR MICROSOFT COMPUTER BALLOT SYSTEM DRAWN FROM 21,000 NAMES, 30,000 NAMES FROM EACH CONTINENT (CANADA, ASIA, AUSTRALIA, UNITED STATE, EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA AND OCEANIA, AS PART OF INTERNATIONAL "E-MAIL" PROMOTIONS PROGRAM, WHICH IS CONDUCTED ANNUALLY FOR OUR PROMINENT MS -WORD USERS ALL OVER THE WORLD, AND TO ENCOURAGE THE USE OF INTERNET AND COMPUTERS WORLDWIDE.

YOUR FUND (CERTIFIED CHEQUE) HAS BEEN INSURED WITH YOUR REF NO:MSW-L/500-36937 AND WILL BE READY FOR DELIVERY. IT WILL BE DELIVERED TO YOU BY ONE OF OUR CLAIM AGENT IN CHARGE OF YOUR ZONE (Mrs.ISABEL OWEN). YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS SHOULD BE USED IN ALL CORRESPONDENCE WITH YOUR CLAIMS OFFICER, PLEASE NOTE THAT, YOU ARE TO CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS OFFICER VIA EMAIL AND PHONE AS WE ARE PROMOTING THE USE OF E-MAIL. ALSO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO CALL HER TO CONFIRM YOUR WINNINGS AND GOVERNMENT TAX PAYMENT THAT IS INVOLVE, AS SHE WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH THE NECESSARY DETAILS ON HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE.
AS PART OF OUR SECURITY PROTOCOL YOU ARE TO QUOTE THIS SECURITY CODE MSW/JULY/XX08 TO YOUR CLAIMING AGENT. THIS IS TO PREVENT SCAM .
Contact your Claiming Agent immediately.

Mrs.ISABEL OWEN
CLAIMS AGENT
EMAIL: isabelowen01@hotmail.com
TELE: +13153701048
FAX+12063385543
CONGRATULATIONS, ONCE MORE FROM THE ENTIRE MANAGEMENT AND STAFF OF MICROSOFT COOPERATION TO ALL OUR LUCKY WINNERS THIS YEAR. THANK YOU FOR BEING PART OF THIS PROMOTIONAL LOTTERY PROGRAM. OUR SPECIAL THANKS AND GRATITUDE TO BILL GATE OF MICROSOFT AND ALL HIS ASSOCIATES FOR ALLEVIATING POVERTY ROUND THE WORLD.

MICROSOFT LOTTERY PROMOTION 2008

Microsoft has obtained your contact details from public internet sources. We thought that you could be attracted to be part of this promotion with our company
© Copyright 2008 Microsoft Lottery promotion All Right Reserve"


---------------------- ALICE N°1 de la RELATION CLIENT 2008*--------------------
Découvrez vite l'offre exclusive ALICE BOX! En cliquant ici http://abonnement.aliceadsl.fr Offre soumise à conditions.*Source : TNS SOFRES / BEARING POINT. Secteur Fournisseur d.Accès Internet

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam