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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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:

• 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 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.
  • mercy.heartland1@aliceadsl.fr (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:34:58 +0200
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Congratulations_Yahoo_Award_Winner!_Reply_Urgently.?=


You won £250,000,00! Yahoo! Mail congratulates you!
Messenger

CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU WON £250,000,00!








Dear Winner,



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 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 quartely 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 expected to get back to us VIA EMAIL: mercy.heartland1@aliceadsl.fr and send your winning identification numbers with the following informations as to enable our co-ordinator 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,
( Ms. Mercy Heartland,
SECRETARY TO THE COORDINATOR)
------------------------------------------------------
WARNING!
You must keep strict confidentiality of your Prize Award claims to yourself until your money is successfully handed over to you inother 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.
-----------------------------------------------------------



Congratulations!!!


Ms. Mercy Heartland,
Secretary to the Coordinator.


---------------------- ALICE N°1 de la RELATION CLIENT 2008*--------------------
Découvrez vite l'offre exclusive ALICE BOX! En cliquant ici http://abonnement.aliceadsl.fr Offre soumise à conditions.*Source : TNS SOFRES / BEARING POINT. Secteur Fournisseur d.Accès Internet

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam