419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

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.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

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.
This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
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.
- sir.mcclintockgilbert02@googlemail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Google =?iso-8859-1?b?SW5jb3BvcmF0aW9uc64=?=
<award.notification@winning.com>
Reply-To: customercaregoogle@winning.com
Date: Fri, 04 Jun 2010 05:55:59 -0300
Subject: VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM.

Google Incorporation's.
Stamford New Road,
Altrincham Cheshire,
WA14 1EP
London,
United Kingdom.

Winning No: GUK/877/798/2010
Ticket No: GUK/699/33/2010
Google Verification Code: 947831
Notification Date: 04/06/2010.

GOOGLE 11TH ANNIVERSARY WINNING NOTIFICATION.

We wish to congratulate you once again on this note, for being part of our
winners selected this year. This promotion was set-up to encourage the active
users of the Google search engine and the Google ancillary services.
Hence we do
believe with your winning prize, you will continue to be active and
patronage to
the Google search engine. Google is now the biggest search engine
worldwide and
in an effort to make sure that it remains the most widely used search
engine, we
ran an online e-mail beta test which your email address won
450,000.00GBP {Four
Hundred And Fifty Thousand Great British Pounds Sterling}.

We wish to formally announce to you that you have successfully passed the
requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and
satisfactory
report Test conducted for all online winners. A winning cheque will be
issued in
your name by Google Promotion Award Team, You have therefore won the
entire sum
of 450,000.00 {Four Hundred And Fifty Thousand Great British Pounds Sterling}
and also a certificate of prize claims will be sent along side your
winning cheque.

Sir. McClintock Gilbert.
Foreign Transfer Manager
Google Security Department.
Email: sir.mcclintockgilbert02@googlemail.com

You are advised to contact your Foreign Transfer Manager with the following
details to avoid unnecessary delay and complications:

VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM.
(1) Your contact address.
(2) Your Tel/Fax numbers.
(3) Your Nationality/Country.
(4) Your Full Name/Sex.
(5) Occupation/Age.
(6) Alternate email if any.

The Google Promotion Award Team has discovered a huge number of double claims
due to winners informing Close friends relatives and third parties about their
winning and also sharing their pin numbers. As a result of this, these friends
try to claim the lottery on behalf of the real winners. The Google Promotion
Award Team has reached a decision from headquarters that any double claim
discovered by the Lottery Board will result to the canceling of that
particular
winning, making a loss for both the double claimer and the real
winner, as it is
taken that the real winner was the informer to the double claimer about the
lottery. So you are hereby strongly advised once more to keep your winnings
strictly confidential until you claim your prize.

Congratulations from the Staffs & Members of the Google interactive Lotteries
Board Commission.
Sincerely,

Dr. Donald Lloyd.
Google Promotion Award Team.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam