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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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "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)
  • "foreign service manager" (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)
  • "million 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.
  • bensonwillams@jmail.co.za (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:21:22 +0100
Subject: IN GOOD FAITH

FROM THE DESK OF E-MAIL
PROMOTIONS MANAGER
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE
AWARD DEPARTMENT,
MICROSOFT CORPORATION WORLD LOTTERY
UNITED KINGDOM.



Reference No:MSW-L/327015002/07
BATCH NO: 2008 SEPTEMBER #414
WINNER NO: 17

Dear Winner,

Microsoft Management Worldwide are pleased to inform you
today 16th OCTOBER,2008 that you are a winner of our annual
MS-WORD LOTTO
LOTTERY conducted for this present year MEGA JACKPOT LOTTO
WINNING PROGRAM
held on the 1st of OCTOBER 2008.

Your email address was attached to ticket number 214-056-278
with serial
number s/n-01025 and drew the lucky numbers 724-595-62-07-45
and consequently
won in the 3rd category.

As a result of this , you have therefore been approved for a
lump sum payout of
US$1,000,000:00 (One million united states dollars) payable
in cash credited to
file Reference No:MSW-L/327015002/07 .

This is from total prize money of US$50,000,000 (Fifty
million united
states dollars) shared among Fifty lucky international
winners in this category.


Mr benson willams
Foreign Service Manager,
London United Kingdom,
{ bensonwillams@jmail.co.za }


Please note that above detailed information will be
absolutely necessary for
the processing of your payment cheques,drafts or wire
transfers.

Remember to quote your ticket number, serial number and
lucky number in your
future correspondence and most importantly as part of our
security protocol you
are to quote this security code MSW/SEP/SS08 to the Foreign
Service Manager,this
is to prevent scam.

Also this winning is valid for THREE WEEKS and failure to
issue claims after
this period will automatically void your payment.

Congratulations once again.

Yours sincerely,
Mrs. Alexanderia Reyes
(PROMOTIONS MANAGER).

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam