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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • ",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)
  • "00,000.00" (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 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.
  • +2348037445335 (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.
  • d_brown1970@hotmail.com
  • brown1970@hotmail.com

Fraud email example:

From: "Australian Lottery Award" <australianlottoaward07@googlemail.com>
Reply-To: d_brown1970@hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:18:32 -0700
Subject: ELECTRONIC E-MAIL AWARD NOTIFICATION($450.000.00)CONGRATULATIONS


6123 Cool Street Paulgreenvulle Ax34587,
Australia.


*CONGRATULATIONS !!!

* *BATCH NUMBER: 8056490902/188

*
*WINNING NUMBER: GB8701/LPRC

REFFERENCE NUMBERS: 575061725*
*
ELECTRONIC E-MAIL AWARD NOTIFICATION

*
*AWARD PRESENTATION CENTER: AUSTRALIA.*
Dear Lucky Winner,

We are delighted to inform you of your prize release on 20th August, 2008
from the Australia Lottery programme. Which is fully based on an Electronic
selection of winners using their e-mail addresses Your name was attached to
ticket number;47061725 07056490902 serial number 7741137002 This batch draws
the lucky numbers as follows 5-13-33-37-42 bonus number 17,which
consequently won the lottery in the second category.

You hereby have been approved a lump sum pay of US$ 450,000.00 (FOUR HUNDRED
AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS) in cash credit file ref: ILP/HW 47509/06 from
the total cash prize of US$4,000,000.00 shared amongst sixteen lucky winners
in this category. All participant were selected through a computer balloting
system drawn form Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada,
Australia,United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as
part of our international promotions program which is conducted annually.

This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational
companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the
communities where they have operational base. Further more your details
(e-mail address) fall within our African representative office in Nigeria as
indicated in your play coupon and your prize of US$450,000.00 will be
released to you from this regional branch office in Nigeria. We hope with
part of your prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes for
US$1 Million international draw.

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE:Simply contact our fiducial agent In Nigeria ,
Dr.Donald Brown by email
(d_brown1970@hotmail.com<http://us.mc555.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to brown1970@hotmail.com>
) ,or call TEL,+2348037445335. To file for your claim.

He shall immediately commence the process that will facilitate the release
of your fund to you.Fill in the complete informations in the form below for
the release of your fund.

Name:..................................

Age:.....................................

Sex:.....................................

Occupation:..........................

Current Address:......................

Country:...................................

Telephone
No:.(Mobile)............................(Office)......................

NOTE:Quote your reference, batch and winning number which can be found on
the top left corner of this notification as well as your full name, address
and telephone number to help locate your file easily.

For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information
confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize
released to you.This is part of our security protocol to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this programme by
non-participant or unofficial personnel.

All winnings MUST be claimed by 28th September 2008 otherwise all funds will
be returned as Unclaimed


*
APPROVED
**
Congratulation Once Again
YOUR ADDRESS HAS WON *

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam