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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:

Fraud email example:

From: "Yahoo Member Service!" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <customeremailagent@yahoo.com,accountmail72@yahoo.com.hk,centre.mailservice11@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:27:58 -0000
Subject: Yahoo! Verification Alert!!! (KMM209347VL05583YOM)

Yahoo! Customer Care Satisfaction Survey
Dear Valued Member,
 
 
Due to the congestion in all Yahoo! users accounts, Yahoo! would be shutting down all unused accounts. In order to avoid the deactivation of your account, you will have to confirm your e-mail by filling out your Login Info below by clicking the reply button. The personal information requested are for the safety of your Yahoo! account. Please LEAVE all information requested.
 
 
Username: ............................................
Password: .............................................
Date Of Birth: ........................................
Country Of Residence: ...........................
Occupation : .........................................
 
After you must have followed the instructions in the sheet, your Yahoo! account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thank you for your usual co-operation. We apologize for any inconvinience.
 

Yahoo! Customer Care

Case number: 8941624
Property: Account Security
Contact date: 06-23-2009

   
take the survey
Yahoo!  Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

Yahoo! controls the data collected in this survey and may use your responses (together with existing data it has about you) to make sure its products and services meet your needs and preferences. Yahoo! will treat all data collected from you in accordance with Yahoo!'s privacy policy. To review this privacy policy, please see:http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy/us/
This survey is being conducted by Yahoo! and hosted on Confirmit by Application Service Provider (ASP) Future Information Research Management (FIRM). FIRM does not use the information collected for any purpose. To review the FIRM privacy statement, please go to: http://www.confirmit.com/privacy-statement.aspx
The data collected from you may be transferred to the USA and processed on behalf of and under the instruction of Yahoo! by a third-party data processor based in the USA.
If you want to be excluded from future surveys and survey correspondence, please click here to unsubscribe.

Anti-fraud resources: