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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:

• The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "million 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 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.
  • +447035921926 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "UK LOTTERY" <uklotnat@googlemail.com>
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:19:44 +0100
Subject: UK NATIONAL LOTTERY AWARD PROMOTION: UNITED KINGDOM.


UK NATIONAL LOTTERY AWARD PROMOTION: UNITED KINGDOM


We announce the winners of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY AWARD PROMOTION held on
the 2nd of this month. Your company or your personal e-mail address,
attached to winning number MX014926583, won in the Tenth lottery category.


You have been approved for lump sums pay out of US4.6 Million Dollars in
cash. Selection process was carried out through random selection in our
computerized email selection machine, from a database of over 1,000,000
email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world.


The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from
an exclusive list of 29,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate
bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the
internet. No ticket were sold but all email addresses were assigned to
different ticket numbers for representation and privacy. This is to
encourage Microsoft Internet Explorer users all over the world, and for the
Continual use of E-mail. Your fund (Certified Cashiers Cheque) has been
insured with your winning number MX014926583. To claim your winning prize,
you must first contact the claims department by email for Processing and
remittance of your prize to you.


Mr David Wilson.
Director of Operations and Logistics.
Phone#: +44 703 592 1926
contact_info1@ukfreeisp.co.uk


You are to reply to this In order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, please remember to quote your winning numbers in all
correspondences with your claims officer. You are to keep all lotto
information away from the general public especially your ticket number.(This
is important as a case of double claims will not be entertained)


PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE TO CONTACT THE CLAIMS OFFICE WITH THE BELOW
INFORMATION:


1.Full Name:....................................................
2.Address:...............................................
3.Nationality:...........................................
4.Age:......................Date of Birth:...............
5.Occupation:............................................
6.Phone:..................Fax:...........................
7.State of Origin:..............Country:.................


Sincerely,
Mrs. Maurrine C. Anner.
Secretary.


Mr David Wilson.
Director of Operations and Logistics.


LOTTERY SPONSOR
UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam