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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:
  • "22 garden close, stamford" (address often used in fake lottery scams)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary 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)
• 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.
  • +447901748830

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 22:43:45 +0000
Subject: YOU ARE A WINNER!!


British Online Lottery
P. O. Box 4279
Liverpool, L70 1NL UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
Ref: BOL/101OXI/02
Batch: 6/211/0374
3rd November, 2008.
WINNING NOTIFICATION
We happily announce to you the draw (#954) of the British online
Sweepstakes International program held on 25th of October,
2008 which was co-hosted by major domain providers like YAHOO ,HOTMAIL, and
other well known domain providers, thereby
giving every email user the legibility and opportunity to be randomly
selected for the prize.
This means your email address registered you for the game.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial
number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers:
((13)-(43)-(06)-(15)-(02)-(40) bonus # (09),which subsequently won you the
lottery in the 2nd category i.e match 5 plus bonus.
You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £250,000 (Two
hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling) in
cash credited to file BOL/9023118308/03. This is from a total cash prize of
£5,000,000 shared amongst the first Twenty (20)
lucky winners in this category i.e Match 5 plus bonus.
All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World
Wide Web sites through computer draw system and
extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that
are listed online. This promotion takes place weekly.
Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet
representative office in Europe as indicated in
your play coupon. In view of this, your £250,000 (Two hundred and fifty
thousand pounds sterling) would be released to you by any of our
affiliated securities/couriers companies.
Our European agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the
release of your funds as soon as you contact him.
For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information
confidential till your claim is processed and your
money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize.
This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and
unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned.
To begin the claiming process of your prize you are to contact our
accredited claims officer with the information you shall
find below:
=============================================
Dr. Thomson Coleman
22 Garden Close, Stamford ,
Lincs , PE9 2YP , London
United Kingdom
E-mail: Lottoclaimdept@ymail.com
Phone: +44 79 017 488 30
=============================================
Provide him with these following details with which he will begin the
processing of your winnings.
1.Name in full.
2.Address.
3.Nationality.
4.Age.
5.Occupation.
6.Phone/Fax.
7.Present Country.
8.Fax [optional].
9.Email address.
10.Sex.
Good luck from me and members of staff of the BRITISH ONLINE INTERNATIONAL
LOTTERY.
OUR Executives:
Mrs Steffan Lloyd (ORGANIZER), Larry Strong ( Notifications Officer) Mr.
Gerald Goodman (Manager Foreign Operations), Mr.
Franklyn Van Der Weijden (Manager Domestic Banking Operations), Dr. Collin
Powell (Director Online InternationalPromotions Unit),
Dr Thomson Coleman (Fiduciary Agent), Mrs. Lyudmyla Marchukova(Regional
Manager), Mr. Stephen Boer (Chairman), Mr.Allan Kelvin(Courier Department
Officer).

***Winners under the age of 16 is automatically disqualified***.

Yours faithfully,
Mr Larry Strong.
Notifications Officer for British ONLINE
INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY.
Sweepstakes International Program.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam