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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!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• 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:
  • "yahoo/msn lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
  • "yahoo/msn lottery" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "greater london" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
• 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: sharongray1@live.com
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 04:13:07 -1100
Subject: Try

Yahoo/Msn Lottery Incoperation
Baley House, Har Road Sutton,
Greater London SM1 4te
United Kingdom .

Dear winner
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of One Million, Great
Britain Pound Sterlings for 2009 Lottery promotion which is organized by
YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY
INC & WINDOWS LIVE. we collects
all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the
millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail we only select five
people every Month as our winners through electronic balloting System
without the winner applying,we congratulate you for being one of the
people selected
You are to contact the events manager
Name:Mrs Sharon Gray
E-mail: sharongray1@live.com

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam