419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

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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:

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.
- +447045789796 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: Yahoo Window Live Awards Centre Yahoo Window Live Awards Centre
<boardofdirectors2@msn.com>
Reply-To: <boardofdirectors02@live.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:24:29 +0000
Subject: PAYMENT OF PRIZE / CLAIMS

Yahoo & Window Live Awards Centre124 Stockport Road,Longsight, Manchester M60 2DBUnited Kingdom.Tel: +44 70457 89796 Fax: +448719003714
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 January,2009 Prize promotion which is organized by YAHOO AWARDS & WINDOWS LIVE.YAHOO collects all the email addresses of the people thatare 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 youridentification numbers:
BATCH NUMBER: MFI/06/APA-43658REFERENCE NUMBER: 2007234522PIN: 1207
You are requested to contact our co-ordinator in Manchester and send your winning identification numbers to him: Co-ordinator's Name: Mr. Druv Matindale:E-Mail:boardofdirectors02@live.com Tel: +44 70457 89796 Fax: +448719003714
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 .........................Congratulations!! once again.Yours in service,Mrs. Grace Sanders
--------------------------------------------------------------------------WARNING!You must keep strict confidentiality of your Prize Award claims to yourself until yourmoney is successfully handed over to you to avoid disqualification thatmay 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