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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
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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.
  • +447031897972 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
  • +447031897856 (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.
  • yahlotto.agent@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Yahoo Msn Award Department" <caroljones1@klikni.cz>
Reply-To: yahlotto.agent@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 10:21:39 +0100
Subject: Yahoo! Awards Notifications(You have Won a Lottery Prize of 485 000.00 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 programme.

YAHOO! collects all the email addresses of the people that are active
online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail 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 Dr Mark
Anderson for your Claim.

Contact:Dr Mark Anderson.
Email: yahlotto.agent@gmail.com
Phone:+44 7031897856
+447031897972

CLAIMS REQUIREMENTS
FULL NAME:......................... ....................
COUNTRY:...................... .............................. .
HOME ADDRESS:...................... .............................
MOBILE NUMBER:....................... ............................
HOME NUMBER:....................... ..............................
AGE:.......................... .............................. .
SEX:.......................... .............................. .........
MARITAL STATUS:....................... .............................. ...
OCCUPATION:................... .............................. .........

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