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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:
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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:

• 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.
  • +447031872953 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: Yahoo Awards Center <jeanie.1@bigpond.com>
Reply-To: uk.coordinator.uk@live.com
Date: Sat, 31 May 2008 23:54:52 +1000
Subject: Congratulations Yahoo & Windows Live Awards Winner!!!






Yahoo Awards Center
124 Stockport Road, Longsight, Manchester M60 2DB - United Kingdom.
Tel: Tel: +447031872953, +447031864313, +447045736125

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great Britain Pounds (GBP 250,000) for the month of May, 2008 Prize promotion which is organized by YAHOO AWARDS & WINDOWS LIVE.

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 / CLAIMS

Winners shall be paid in accordance with their Settlement Centers. Yahoo Prize Award must be claimed not later than 30 days from date of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited and returned to its source as unclaimed.
Stated below are your identification numbers:

BATCH NUMBER: MFI/06/APA-43658
REFERENCE NUMBER: 2007234522
PIN: 1207

You are requested to contact our co-ordinator in Manchester and send your winning identification numbers to him:

Co-ordinator's Name: Mr Brad Richards

E-Mail: uk.coordinator.uk@live.com

You are advised to send the following information to our co-ordinator to facilitate the release of of your fund to you.

1. Full name..............................................
2. Country.................................................
3. Contact Address................................
4. Telephone Number............................
5. fax Number..........................................
5. Marital Status.....................................
6. Occupation..........................................
7. Sex.........................................................
8. Date of Birth/Age ...............................
9. Identity card(carte identite).............

Congratulations!! once again.

Yours in service,


Mrs. Grace Sanders(Awards coordinator)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WARNING!

You must keep strict confidentiality of your Prize Award claims to yourself until your money is successfully handed over to you to avoid disqualification that may arise from double claims.

Yahoo Awards Team shall not be held liable for any loss of funds arising from the above mentioned.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam