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 uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "yahoo lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
- "20 craven park, harlesden" (address often used in fake lottery scams)
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "to your nominated bank account" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "transfer of your funds" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
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.
- +447031928913 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: msw@british-gams.com
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:25:46 +1000
Subject: Microsoft Award Notification{Contact Mr.Mark Fletcher, Email :
msw@british-gams.com}

Microsoft Award Team
20 Craven Park, Harlesden London NW10,United Kingdom.
Batch Number: P2/0056/2008
Ticket Number: PP 3812 /2008-02
Ref Number: KPL/09-002/JA.

Microsoft Award Notification

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of FIVE HUNDRED
THOUSAND POUND(£500,000.00) for the New Edition 2009 Lottery promotion
which is organized by YAHOO LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE.YAHOO &
MICROSOFT WINDOWS,collects all the email addresses of the people that
are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and
Hotmail we only select five people every Month as our winners through
electronic balloting System without the winner applying, we
congratulate you for being one of the people selected.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM

You are to contact your Claims Agent with immediate effect to
faciliate the protocol of your winning prized before the date of
Claim, Winners Shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement
Centre Prize must be claimed not later than 15 days from date of Draw
Notification after the Draw date in which Prize has won. Any prize not
claimed within this period will be forfeited.

These are your identification numbers:

Batch Number: P2/0056/2008
Ticket Number: PP 3812 /2008-02
Ref Number: KPL/09-002/JA.
cash prize of £500,000.00 GBP

To begin your claim please contact our licensed and accredited agent
assigned to you

Mr. Mark Fletcher
(VERIFICATION DEPARTMENT MANAGER)
Phone: +44-703-192-8913
Email: msw@british-gams.com

You are therefore advised to send the following information to the
claims agent to facilitate them and in order for them to have access
in proceeding with the transfer of your funds to your nominated bank
account.

1. Full name............
2. Country..............
3. Contact Address........
4. Telephone Number.......
5. Marital Status.........
6. Occupation............
7. Company..............
8. Age....................

Msn Lottery Prize must be claimed not later than 15 days from date of
Draw Notification after the Draw date in which Prize has won. Any
prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited.

Congratulations!! once again.

Yours in service,
Johnson, Jami.
(Operation Manager)
Microsoft Award Team

MICROSOFT AWARD TEAM COPYRIGHT © 2009 ALL RIGHT RESERVED

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Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam