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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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.
  • felixwilliams97@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <felixwilliams97@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 02:08:34 +0000
Subject: Google Lottery Bonanza



THE WORLDWIDE ONLINE LOTTERY COMMISSION BOARD
To Serve With Integrity And Bringing The World To Future Hope …
NOVEMBER 2008 DRAWS
THE GOOGLE NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY 2008
THIS RESULT IS BASED ON THE GOOGLE NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY 2008 FOR DRAWS ON THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER .
MOTTO: FIGHTING POVERTY ROUND THE WORLD
　
Draw Date 11/11/2008
Ref: 475061725
Batch: 7056490902/188
Winning No: GB8701/LPRC
CONGRATULATIONS
Google Lottery Bonanza
　
Dear Sir/Madam
The Lucky Winner
We are delighted to inform you of your prize release on the 30th of November, 2008 from the Google International Annual 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 06-10-14-23-34-36bonus numbers 02-12,which consequently won the lottery in the second category. You here by have been approved a lump sum pay of £550,000.00 (FIVE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND POUNDS) in cash credit file ref: ILP/HW 47509/02 from the total cash prize shared amongst eight lucky winners in this category. All participants 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) falls within our European representative office in London, United Kingdom as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of £550,000.00 will be released to you from our regional branch office in LONDON. 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.
Note,
All winnings are to be claimed before the end of November 2008; otherwise all funds will be returned as Unclaimed and eventually donated to charity .Congratulations once again on your wining.
PLEASE, CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT AT
NAME:Prof Felix Williams: Common wealth director

CLAIMS DEPARTMENT CONTACT INFO;

Best regards,
Prof.Felix Williams ,
(European Claims Agent) Felixwilliams97@yahoo.com

APPROVED
　
You are therefore advised to send the following information to the claims department to facilitate the verification on your winning.
　
1. Full name...............
2. Country..................
3. Contact Address........
4. Telephone Number........
5. Marital Status.........
6. Occupation.............
7. Age....................
8.Winning numbers.........
9.Batch numbers............
10.Reference numbers........
　
　
　
Congratulations!! once again.
Yours in service,
　
　
MRS CAROL SMITH.
(Public Relations Officer)
BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY ON THE PART OF THE WINNERS WILL RESULT TO DISQUALIFICATION.
THANKS:
MANAGEMENT, GOOGLE LOTTO LOTTERY INC.
　
　
LOTTERY SPONSORS: CHIEF SPONSORS; MICROSOFT CORPORATION UK, LG ELECTRONICS, MASTER CARD, MICROSOFT CORPORATION USA, MICROSOFT CORPORATION ASIA, PLAY STATION 2.ONLINE

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam