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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
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• 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:

• 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:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "million pounds" (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.
  • onlinepromo_235@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:35:51 -0400
Subject: CLAIMING IS FREE*CONTACT EMAIL*(onlinepromo_235@yahoo.com.hk)*


CLAIMING IS FREE OF CHARGE!!!

BRITISH INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY
HEADQUARTER, UNITED KINGDOM.
=====================
Winning NO: XB3/701/LNRC
Batch NO: 905534213/255
Ref NO: 7458222754
=====================

Dear Lucky Winner,

simply contact our fiduciary agent with the information
below.

NAME; MR. GARRY LEE.
EMAIL;onlinepromo_235@yahoo.com.hk
Telephone Number: +4470744334

We are pleased to announce your email address as one of the
200 lucky winners in the Free Lotto draw held on the 25th March
2009.All 200 winning addresses were randomly selected from a
batch of 100,000,000{ONE HUNDRED MILLION} international emails
addresses.

Consequently, you have therefore been approved for a total payout of
GBP £900, 000 (NINE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS) only. Your email address
emerged along side with 199 others as a category of winner in this year's
Annual Draw.

The British International Lottery is proudly sponsored by the Microsoft
Corporation, Coca Cola, Nokia, MTN, the Intel Group, Toyota,Toshiba.
The world cup free lottery draw is held once in every four years
interval.

And is also organized to encourage the use of internet and computers.
We are proud to say that over GBP £25 Million Pounds are won annually
in more than 150 countries world-wide.

For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information
confidential until you claim your prize money.

This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and
unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned.

Fill the form below to enable us process you winning prize,
NAME..:.......................

ADDRESS.......................

PHONE NO..:...................

OCCUPATION.: .................

AGE..: .......................

SEX..:........................

COUNTRY.:.....................


Mrs. Linda Hull
Promotions Manager,
Congratulations once again.


The information contained in this email is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the designated recipients named above. This message may be privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader and/or actual recipient of this message is not the intended recipient or an employee or agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you received this document in error, and that any review dissemination, distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by email and destroy all copies of the original message. Thank You.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam