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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
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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "international lottery programme" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "00,000.00" (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.
  • agencyclaim@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: AUSTRALIA LOTTERY COMPANY <rmustrrians@gmail.com>
Reply-To: agencyclaim@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2009 11:37:50 +0100
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Date: 03/07/2009
Ref: 475061725
Batch: 8056460902/188
Winning no: GB9701/LPRC:

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Greetings,

We are delighted to inform you of your prize release on the 3rd July,
2009 from the Australian International Lottery programme. Which is
fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail
addresses from some site.Your email address was attached to ticket
number; 5706172507056490902, serial number 8741137002. This batch
draws the lucky numbers as follo ws 8382-42 bonus number 17,which
consequently won the lottery in the second category.


You hereby have been approved a lump sum pay of US$200,000.00 (TWO
HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) in cash credit file Ref: ILP/HW 47509/02
from the total cash prize shared amongst eight lucky winners in this
category.


All participant were selected through a computer balloting system
drawn from 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 conglomorate of
some multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to
the citizens in the commmunities where they have operational base.

Further more your details (e-mail address) falls within our European
representative office in Amsterdam,Holland,as indicated in your play
coupon and your prize of US$200,000.00 will be released to you from
this regional branch office in NIGERIA. We hope with part of your
prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes for US$1.3
Billion international draw.


HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE: Simply contact our fiduciary
agent, Rev. Mike Uzondu at ; agencyclaim@hotmail.com


to file for your claim .

Please quote your reference,batch and winning number which can be
found on the top left corner of this notification as well as your full
name, address and telephone number to help locate your file easily.
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 MUST be
claimed by 2009; otherwise all funds will be returned as Unclaimed
and eventually donated to charity organisations.


Congratulations once again on your winnings!!!
Best Regards
Nancy Viduka
(co-ordinator)
REPLY TO THE ABOVE MENTIONED EMAIL.

ANY BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY ON THE PART OF THE WINNERS WILL RESULT
TO DISQUALIFICATION.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam