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")
- ",500,000" (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)
- "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!

Fraud email example:

From: Google Lottery =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Promotion=AE?=
<financeiro@infortecline.com.br>
Reply-To: google.l@collector.org
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2016 22:46:14 -0600
Subject: Google Promotion Alert

Congratulations!! We happily announce to you the Google lottery of a multinational American company in conjunction with Yahoo, Microsoft Windows online sweepstakes promotion held in Mountain View, CA 94043, United States this November 7, 2016

This is to inform you that this email address won a cash prize of (US $ 1,500,000.00) One Million Five Hundred US Dollars, Thank you for your patronage all previous years, using the internet , Our system of noticing its business intrinsically connected to the internet over the years

Google, Yahoo and MicroSoft leading internet product providers collects globally all email addresses from active online people, among millions who have joined some of the other email providers. Six people are selected every six years to benefit from this promotion and you are one of the selected winners

Winners will be paid according to their / their Settlement Center. Prize Prize must be claimed within 28 days as of the date of the Draw notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited.

Listed below are their identification numbers: BATCH NUMBER: GOMC / 11 / USA-93658, REFERENCE NUMBER: 201723452, winning number: 01 14 21 01 48

These numbers fall within the file Location JOHANNESBURG, you are welcome to contact our fiduciary agent in Johannesburg and send your winning identification numbers with him for payment:

CONTACT YOUR AGENTS
NAME: Edward Green
E-Mail: google.l@collector.org

It is WARNED to send the following information to your agent to facilitate the release of your fund from YOU

1. Full name .....
2. Contact address ......
3. Telephone Number ....
4. Fax number .....
5. Occupation .....
6. Batch number .....
7. Reference number .....
8. Winning Number .....

Congratulations one more time

*** Due to the possible mix of some numbers and email contacts, we ask that you keep this prize strictly from the edict until your request has been processed and your money sent. This is part of our security protocol to avoid claiming or unscrupulous acts of marriage by some participants of this program. ***

Congratulations again from all the members and staff of the lottery program.

Best regards,
Microsoft, Yahoo and Google Lottery Promotion©2016 **Customer Service**

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Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam