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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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• 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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
• 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.
  • +447024020281 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
  • +2348038141717 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)
• 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.
  • peterm_lottoo@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: <jsloto@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:36:56 +0100
Subject: VERY URGENT

USA Lotos Payout,
Bexton-London,
United Kingdom
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369
www.lottolore.com/lotto649.html

WINNING NOTICE

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Usalotos E-mail weekly
sweepstakes lottery held on Saturday 16th August ,2008 in United Kingdom.
Your e-mail address with ticket number: 56188
with Serial number 02098 matched our lucky numbers: 12-16-19-32-42-49 with
a Bonus number: 3.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total prize sum of US$820,000
in cash credited to file NIG/9023118308/03. Coincidentally, this file
falls within our African booklet, and to
file for your claim please contact our African payment agent:

Contact person: Peter Martins
Email: peterm_lottoo@yahoo.co.uk
Telephone: +234 803 814 1717

Your prize money would be processed and released to you as soon as you
contact this payment office.

Congratulations once more from all members and staff of this program.

Sincerely,

Gregory Adams
+44 702 402 0281
Head Office
London-UK

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam