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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:
  • "lottery winners international e-mail programs" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "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)
  • ",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.
  • greglouisconsul@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Alain IETTER <alain.ietter@orange.fr>
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 16:05:21 +0100 (CET)
Subject: Your Email Won the Prize



Your Email Won The Prize
The Spanish Hotball Lotto
REFERENCE #:87/825/TRH
BATCH #: MEG-749-873-439

Sir/Madam,

Being officially assigned to select winners across the
globe, the management is pleased to inform you of the result of the
Hot Lotto Spanish Lottery Winners International E-mail programs held on the
29th December,2008 and result was released on the 9th January 2008. Your
E-mail address attached to ticket number 653-908-321-675 with serial main
number 528-127-196 drew lucky star numbers 25-78-54-36-49 which
consequently won in the 2nd category, you have therefore been approved for
a lump sum pay out of EUR1.500.000.00 with REFERENCE
No.:87/825/TRH and BATCH #: MEG-749-873-439.

Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep your
winning information confidential until your claims have been
processed and your money remitted to you. This is part of our security
protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by
some participants. All participants were selected through a
computer ballot system drawn from over 100,000 company and 50,000,000
individual email addresses and names from all over the world.

This lottery was promoted and sponsored by Software companies in
order to enhance and promote the use of Internet Explorer Users and
Microsoft-wares around the globe.
To file for your claim, please contact our foreign service
manager:
Mr Louis E. Greg
email:greglouisconsul@gmail.com
Tel:  34 657 548 514
Foreign Service Manager

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

Sincerely,
Carmen Rodriguez
International Online Co-ordinator

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam