'advance fee' scams
is the email I've received a scam?

'is the email I've received a scam?'
- if it has been sent from a free, web-based email address (yahoo, msn, hotmail, etc), then the short answer is 'yes'
If you need a more in-depth answer, then these are the indications to look out for:

[ 1 ] why have you been chosen [ 2 ] web-based email addresses [ 3 ] fast response requested
[ 4 ] forfeiture of winnings [ 5 ] need for confidentiality [ 6 ] contact names [ 7 ] request for up-front fees by money transfer
[ 8 ] no payout until fees received [ 9 ] genuine graphics, names etc.
[ 10 ] fraud warnings, 'previous winners', company executives & representatives... [ 11 ] official documents
[12] no need to buy a ticket!

^ 1 Why have you been chosen?
Ask yourself why you have been 'chosen' out of all the millions of internet users in the world. The fact is, you haven't - you're just one of the thousands of recipients in a mass mailing. Many scam emails are posted by the recipients on Google Groups, to serve as warning to other potential victims. Try searching for your 'winning ticket number', 'serial number', 'batch number' etc. - or for some other aspect of your email, such as the sender's name - you will probably find that you are not the only 'lucky' one, as the email will have been sent to many people. You may have to wait a day or two after you've received the email to allow time for other examples of the names used to be posted, although reference numbers and ticket numbers are very rarely 'new' and you will most likely find the same numbers immediately. Try these as examples: Alexanderia Reyes | 56475600545

^ 2 Web-based email addresses
The emails are almost exclusively sent from a free web-mail email address: Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. The part before the @ may look official, but it's the part after the @ that matters. If the email had genuinely been sent from a lottery company or firm of solicitors, then you would expect the email to come from their registered domain - why on earth would a genuine lottery company send you a notification of a $3,000,000 from an address like lotterywinners@yahoo.co.uk?? Or an international bank use a hotmail address?

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Our winners have alway been given an option to process or forfeit winnings.I am truly sorry about your feelings right now but you must understand this is no illegitimate operation. I am truly sorry about this, you probably want to withdraw from procedures...

...the problem we are now facing is that many lucky winner like you find it hard to beleive us when they eventualiy become winner, thereby forfeiting the winnings, i hope your case will not be the same here... I will like you to have a rethink if you want to loss or forfeit this 350,000 Euros just like that, because lottery is not what you win everyday for the 350,000 Euros will do a lot in your life and the life of your generations...

Please note that any form Irregularity on the part of winner with will not tolerated as this may Led to disqualification...

Be advised that payment default attracts a penalty and we might be compelled to return your winning to the treasury as unclaimed prize...

You have recieved this email because your email address was included in our Lottery database. If you are not interested in claiming your winning, please send us a blank email with the subject "Disclaimer"...

But, if you wish not to proceed, please kindly cooperate with me by drafting your REFUSAL LETTER indicating strictly that your winning prize should be used for the next stake. And I promise you will never hear from me again.

You have recieved this email because your email address was extracted and included in our Lottery database.if you are not interested in claiming your winning, please send us a blank email with the subject "Disclaimer"

This is to make the victim believe that they genuinely have won a prize and that the scammers do not mind whether it is claimed or not. The 'winner' may be invited to 'withdraw their claim', which also suggests to victims that they really have won. The scammers hope that the target will think that there may be a risk of forfeiting the prize if they do not act quickly enough or cause delay by asking questions.

^ 5 Need for confidentiality
You are usually asked not to publicise the fact that you've received the email. In the case of lottery scams, you may be told that this is because there's been a mix-up with winning numbers, the claim has to be verified or it is to avoid 'abuse' of the system. Some scams threaten forfeiture of the 'winnings' if confidentiality is breached. In other scams, confidentiality is requested due to the nature of the proposed transactions:

For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claim is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned.

More importantly keep your winning news to yourself untill after receiving your prize to avoid unscrupulous element disputing counter claim.

Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money Remitted to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants.

...we ask that you keep this award strictly from public notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted to your account. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by participants of this program.

Note: you are to keep your purpose of payment along with your winning information TOP SECRET until your funds have been remitted to you. Because it is part of security measure.

Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to disqualification

However, the real reason the sender wants you to keep the details secret is because if you tell people about the email, someone is likely to point out that it's a scam...

^ 6 Contact names
The emails are often signed in the (fictitious!) names of doctors or have some other title such as 'Sir', 'Reverend' or 'Barrister': Dr Silber Barny, Sir Wella Washington, Dr Enrico James, etc; this is to try to impress and gain the trust of the recipient, on the grounds that the victim will believe that an email from a 'doctor' or a 'sir' is more likely to be genuine. The names are often very peculiar and sometimes unique, ie: Phill Bang, Coker Kent, Tolbert Givens - due to the originator's tenuous grasp of Western/European names. For the same reason, the first names are often surnames and vice-versa - the names would make far more sense the other way round: Edwards Lewis, Blant Thomas, Dr Mansell Enrico.

^ 7 Request for payment of 'up-front' fees by money transfer
If you reply to a scam email, the request for payment of up-front fees will follow soon after. There are many reasons why the victim will be told that fees have to be paid: in the case of a lottery scam, it could be money transfer fees, insurance, courier costs, etc. With the 'I have a lot of money and will pay you some for helping me'-type of scam, the fees are more likely to be legal: probate costs, barrister fees, court fees, etc. Invariably, the fees have to be paid via a money-transfer procedure: Western Union, MoneyGram, etc - cheques & Visa certainly will not be accepted! The scammers may advise that this is the 'easiest' and 'most convenient' way - which for them, it is. They simply have to pop down to their nearest agent and collect the cash, usually using a 'test question' and 'answer' that they will have supplied to the victim - so there's no inconvenient and traceable bank accounts to deal with... If the initial fees are paid, often a request is made for further money - and a victim who has already parted with some money may feel inclined to send more as they do not want to lose their initial payment by backing out. If the victim cannot pay all the fees, then the scammers may offer part-payment, as from their point of view, it's better to get some money from the target than none at all. And don't even think about asking for the 'fees' to be taken out of the money that you have 'won' - see below.

^ 8 No payout until fees have been received
It would seem logical that if a 'winner' was going to receive a few million dollars, any necessary 'fees' could be deducted from the winnings and the balance paid to the 'winner'. Many notifications explain why apparently this is not possible, as shown in these examples (these have all been taken from the same email, which labours the point a little...):

'Have it in mind that your won prize cannot be deducted from, this is because the total amount has been insured to the real value. This is in accordance with section 13(1)(n) of the national gambling act as adopted in 1993 and amended on 3 July 1996 by the constitutional assembly'

'This company declined reverse payment for these charges, stating that it is against their professional policy towards ensuring the safe delivery of the cheque to you. That if a reverse payment is made, and something goes wrong, that we/you cannot sue the courier company or insurance company to recover the full value of the fund as stipulated in the cheque since payment for insurance cover was not made at point of mailing. With the above reason, reverse payment is ruled out'.

'Note: that your prize is protected by a hardcover insurance policy, which makes it impossible to deduct any amount from the money before it has been remitted to you. This means that the... charges cannot be deducted from the prize and hence must be provided by you before your prize is transferred to you.'

The real reason, of course, is that the victim will not be receiving any money - so from the scammers point of view, suggesting that the fees are taken out of it is simply not on!!!

^ 9 Genuine graphics, names, etc.
Often the 'winning' notifications have authentic-looking graphics suggesting that the scam lottery is connected with genuine lottery organisations or has been endorsed by various official bodies. However, the graphics have simply been copied from genuine websites and used in the scam email to give an appearance of authenticity. Similarly, genuine addresses may have been used, ie. the address of the UK National Lottery Headquarters, or the name and address of a genuine bank or financial institution. The graphics and names/addresses used are really of no relevance - they just help to give the impression that the email is genuine.

^ 10 Fraud warnings, 'previous winners', company executives...
Scammers will try to convince the potential victim that the their email is genuine by including various items in the notification which are intended to indicate 'authenticity'. These include:

(a) Fraud warnings

Many scam lottery emails carry 'warnings' about fraudulent lotteries, often suggesting that recipients should report scam emails to the appropriate authorities. This is a double-bluff - the scammers hope that the target will think that if the email was a scam, it would not carry the a warning about fraudulent lotteries:

Warning!!!: Fraudulent emails are circulating that appear to be using Britsih National Lottery addresses, but are not from The British Lottery. PLEASE REPORT IMMEDIATELY TO: FRAUDWATCH INTERNATIONAL

ANY MAIL RECIEVED OF THIS SUCH WITH ANY OTHER TRADE MARK OR ADDRESS SHOULD BE FOWARDED TO YOUR CLAIMS AGENT IMMEDIATELY; THIS WILL HELP US TO FIGHT SCAM AND LOTTERY IMPOSTERS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ANTICIPATED CO-OPERATION.

(b) 'Previous winners'

Images of 'previous winners' are often included - however, these are winners of other lotteries, which can be found very easily by searching Google images for "lottery winner" or similar phrases. Close inspection of the images will often show the names of the genuine lotteries that the images relate to. The same images are used over and over again: the ones below have featured many times as 'previous winners' in different lottery scams - click on the images to see where they have been taken from!



(c) Company Executives & Representatives

Many emails include an impressive list of company executives, which often remain unchanged even when used with different lottery :

Dr. P. Swier (CEO), Mr. Gerald Goodman (Manager Foreign Operations), Mr. Franklyn Van Der Weijden (Manager Domestic Banking Operations), Dr. James Williams (Director International Credit Department), Mrs. Lonni K Anderson (Legal Representative), Mrs. Lyudmyla Marchukova (Regional Manager), Mr. Stephen Boer (Chairman), Mr. Chris Moritz (International
Relation Officer)

Dr. P. Swier, Mr. Gerald Goodman (Manager Foreign operation), Mr. Franklyn Van Der Weijden (Manager Domestic Banking Operations), Mr. James cole (Director International Credit Department), Mrs. Sandra Murphy (Executive), Dr.Micheal Moore (Executive), Mr. Stephen Boer (Chairman)

Some include images that are allegedly of the executives or representatives - again, these have been copied from other sites and their 'true identity' can be established with a little effort. For example, gentleman [A] below is Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar, the 2005-06 Rotary International President. The image is used in the Freelotto scam, where Mr Stenhammar has a new identity as Sir F J Walters, online co-ordinator. The same image is labelled as Michael Ronin Esq, Mark K Dulle, Mr John Moore and Rudolph P Markhams in various other lottery scams. Gentleman [B] is Professor Randy H Katz from the University of California, Berkeley, photographed in 2005. He has been recycled as 'Mr Lookman Dave', a Fiduciary Agent of the UK National Lottery. Gentlemen [C] is Aldwin Savery, Admin Quality Manager at Bermuda Hospitals, who finds a new lease of life as Dr Woodroffe Adams, member of the National Lottery Board Commission. Image [D] is of Vicki Abraham, Vice President, Customer Relations, Logic Communications Ltd, Bermuda, who also appears on the 'National Lottery Board Commission' under the new name of Mrs Rosemary Moyo.

[A] [B] [C] [D]

If you've received a 'winning notification' which includes an image of someone official-looking who endorses the lottery and you want to know their real identity, please feel free to forward the email and I will endeavour to trace the image's origin!

^ 11 Prize Certificates & other official documents
In almost all cases, the scammers will try to impress the victim with official documents - either company registration documents or confirmation of the win by way of Prize Certificates. These are generally badly designed and worded, with the 'winners' name inserted in the appropriate place. They often show the relevant reference numbers and sometimes authentic graphics taken from elsewhere. Often, scammers will send copies of their passports to 'confirm their identity' - however, these are invariably someone else's passport with the name and other details amended as appropriate. Scammers may obtain a scan of someone else's genuine passport and then they can simply adopt the relevant name without the need to amend the details - be aware of this if an email from a scammer asks YOU to send a scanned copy of YOUR passport... There are examples of fake documents on the fake documents page.

^ 12 No need to buy a ticket!
Scammers realise that some potential victims are not inclined to believe that they have won a lottery for which they have not bought a ticket - so assurances similar to the following are often included:

The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list of 29,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet, Including Users Of Western Union Money Transfer and Money Gram Transfer. However, no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticket numbers for representation and privacy...

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Need more information? Try these sites:

fraudaid - Lottery Scams questions and answers

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