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:

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:
- "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)
- "inc.egamelottery@yahoo.co.za" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <inc.egamelottery@yahoo.co.za>
Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2016 00:23:55 -0600
Subject: Hello

EGAME LOTTERY INC. ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD WINNING
NOTIFICATION AWARD PRESENTATION CENTER:
Ref: 475061725
Batch: 7056490902/188
Winning no: GB8701/LPRC

CONGRATULATIONS

Dear Lucky Winner,

We are delighted to inform you that you have won 2016 Egame Lottery
programme Which is fully based on an Electronic selection of winners using
their e-mail addresses Your name was attached to ticket number;47061725
07056490902 serial number 7741137002 This batch draws the lucky numbers as
follows 5-13-33-37-42 bonus number 17,which
consequently won the lottery in the second category.

You hereby have been approved a lump sum pay of €900,000.00 (Nine Hundred
Thousand Euro's) in cash credit file ref: ILP/HW 47509/02 from the total
cash prize of €720,000.00 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 conglomerate of some
multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the
citizens in the communities where they have operational base

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE Simply contact our fiduciary agent
NAME : DR, RAY BILL
EMAIL : inc.egamelottery@yahoo.co.za

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 programmer by
non-participant or unofficial personnel.

FILL OUT OUR ONLINE VERIFICATION FORM

1.FULL NAMES:....
2.ADDRESS:........
3.City:...........
4.State:...........
5.Email Address:.....
6.Postcode:..........
7.Country:............
8.SEX:.................
9.AGE:..................
9.OCCUPATION:............
10.TELEPHONE NUMBER:.....

Note, all winnings MUST be claimed before the month runs out,otherwise all
funds will be returned as Unclaimed and
eventually donated to charity Congratulations once again on your
winnings!!!

Best Regards
SANDRA GOMEZ(co-coordinator)
BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY ON THE PART OF THE WINNERS WILL
RESULT TO DISQUALIFICATION.

THANKS:
MANAGEMENT, EGAME LOTTERY INC.SOUTH AFRICA BRANCH
LOTTERY SPONSORS: CHIEF SPONSORS;MICROSOFT CORPORATION UK, MICROSOFT
CORPORATION AFRICA, MICROSOFT CORPORATION
USA,MICROSOFT CORPORATION ASIA

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam