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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:
  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
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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 agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • ",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)
  • ",500,000" (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!

Fraud email example:

From: "Newton, Bertha L." <bertha_newton1@EKU.EDU>
Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2008 11:52:42 -0400
Subject: Your Online Lottery Winning Result Batch Number: P2/0056/2008

WINNING NOTIFICATION FOR CATEGORY "B" WINNER ONLY

Attn Lucky Winner,

We are pleased to inform you that you have emerged as a winner in the
final annual draw of our Lottery International Programs. Your email
address was selected by our Electronic Random Selection System (ERSS)
from an exclusive list of 250,000,000 e-mail addresses of individual
and corporate bodies generated from an internet resource database. No
tickets were sold.

Your email address is identified with Batch Number: P2/0056/2008 and Ticket
Number: PP 3812 /2008-09 in Category "B" and your claims portfolio is
filled with Ref Number: KPL/09-002/JA.You are therefore advised to
receive a cash prize of £1,500,000.00 (One Million, Five Hundred
Thousand Great British Pound) from the total payout.

CONGRATULATIONS! Your prize award has been insured under a bonded
depository policy with your e-mail address, and will be transferred to
you upon meeting the claims requirements, statutory obligations,
verifications, validations and satisfactory report.

To file for the processing of your prize sum payment, you are advised
to contact our Certified and Accredited claims agent for category "B"
winners with the information below:
*************************************
Name: Mr. Phil Smith
Email:mrphil_smith011@strompost.info
*************************************
Endeavour to provide him with the following information in your contact
with him.
Names:
Telephone/Fax number:
Nationality:
Age:
Occupation:

NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 14 days, thereafter
unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake. Remember to quote
your reference information in all correspondence.

You are to keep all lotto information confidential, especially your
reference and ticket numbers. This is important as a case of double
claims will not be entertained.

Members of staff of affiliate agencies are automatically not allowed to
participate in this program. Furthermore, should there be any change of
address do inform our agent as soon as possible.

Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for
being part of our promotional program.

Yours Faithfully,
Mr.Newton,Bertha L.
Lottery Co-ordinator.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

1. Personal and winning data provided by winners to THIS PROMO remains
known ONLY to the winner and INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONAL PROGRAMS
ORGANISATION.

2a. all e-mail addresses, contact information, photographs and/or
personal data of winners SHALL NOT be published or disclosed on ANY
public or in any other public place or via any medium accessible to the
public.

2b. all e-mail addresses, contact information, photographs and/or
personal data of winners SHALL NOT be disclosed to or made available to
any third party or agent outside the claims office.

3. All e-mail addresses, contact information and/or personal data of
winners are kept in an isolated database server protected from any
external access using SSL locking on 6th level binary phase. This data
is made accessible ONLY to UK NATIONAL LOTTERY staff and authorized
agents directly involved with the processing of winners claims.

4. Winners are advised to keep their winning information away from
public knowledge, in order to avoid any double claims, impersonation or
misrepresentation during the claims processing. UK NATIONAL LOTTERY
will not be liable for any misplaced claims as a owing to your
negligence or publishing of your winning information.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam