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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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.

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 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 mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +447031848598 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • rev_fatherjohnson1987@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
  • 3arev_fatherjohnson1987@yahoo.com

Fraud email example:

From: "YAHOO MSN LOTTERY 2008" <yahoolottery2008_yahoolottery2008@klikni.cz>
Reply-To: rev_fatherjohnson1987@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 01:01:45 +0100
Subject: Congratulations!!! Your email has won a Bonanza Award of 485 000 GB Pounds


CONGRATULATIONS!

We are delighted to inform you that you have won the sum of 485,000.00 GBP
from YAHOO! MSN (WINDOWS LIVE) Awards programmer.

YAHOO! collects all the email addresses of the people that are active
online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hot mail and few
from other e-mail providers. Six people are selected monthly to benefit from
this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM
Winners shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre. Yahoo
Prize Award must be claimed not later than 15 days from date of Draw
Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited.

Stated below are your identification numbers:
BATCH NUMBER: YPA/07-43658
REFERENCE NUMBER: 2007234522
PIN: 1206
you are hereby advice to get back to us by
contacting with your Clearance Officer REV FATHER JOHNSON
for your Claim.

Contact:REV FATHER JOHNSON.
EMAIL:rev_fatherjohnson1987@yahoo.com<EMAIL%3Arev_fatherjohnson1987@yahoo.com>
TELEPHONE:+447031848598


CLAIMS REQUIREMENTS FULL NAME:
COUNTRY:
HOME ADDRESS:
MOBILE NUMBER:
HOME NUMBER:
AGE:
SEX:
AL STATUS:
OCCUPATION:
ANNUAL INCOME IN POUNDS:

Yours faithfully, Mrs.. Carol Jones On line co-ordinator for YAHOO AWARDS &
WINDOWS LIVE PROGRAMME, Sweepstakes International program.
------------------------------ ------------------------------
------------------------------ ------------------------------ -------------
WARNING ! Do not tell people about your Prize Award until your money is
successfully handed over to you to avoid disqualification that may arise
from double claim. You may also receive similar e-mails from people
portraying to be other Organizations or Yahoo Inc. This is solely to collect
your personal information from you and lay claim over your winning. In event
that you receive any e-mail similar to the notification letter that was sent
to you, Kindly delete it from your mail box and give no further
correspondence to such person or body. YAHOO! shall not be held responsible
for any loss of fund arising from the above mentioned.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam