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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- ",000,000" (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.
- +447011150741 (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.
- eventmanagerprizeunit@winning.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Yahoo! MSN Hotmail Inc." <jaycullen1@bellsouth.net>
Reply-To: eventmanagerprizeunit@winning.com
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:29:33 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: =?utf-8?B?Q29uZ3JhdHVsYXRpb25zISEgWW91IFdvbiDCozEsMDAwLCAwMDAuMDAgR0JQ?=
=?utf-8?B?ISBZYWhvbyxNU04sSG90bWFpbCBBd2FyZC4=?=

Division of Yahoo MSN Hotmail Internet Lottery Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Payment No. GB30922
Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Date: 10th October,2009

PAY THE AMOUNT OF: EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND BRITISH POUNDS*Â£1,000,000.00*
Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â AUTHORIZED BY YAHOO MAIL INC.
Â
Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â YOU WON Â£1,000,000.00 POUNDS!Â
Â
Â YOU HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED AS ONE OF THE TOP 12 LUCKY WINNERS!!!

Â
NOTE: THIS IS NOT A SPAM MAIL!!Â

Â
Reply to this email address: eventmanagerprizeunit@winning.comÂ Â Â Â
Â
Â
Attention: Valuable Winner,

Yahoo, MSN and Hotmail gives members random cash prizes. Today, your account is randomly selected as among the 12 top winnerâ€™s accounts that will get cash prizes from us. We are happy to inform you that you have won a prize money of (One Million Great British Pounds (Â£1,000,000.00 GBP) for the month of OCTOBER, 2009 lottery prize promotions which is organized by Yahoo, MSN and Hotmail every month.
Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Yahoo, MSN and Hotmail collects all the mail "ID" of their registered members that are online/ offline. Among the millions that subscribe to Yahoo, MSN and Hotmail email accounts and other private and company email addresses on Microsoft worldwide. We only select twelve people every month as our winners through electronic balloting System without the winner applying, since your email "ID" is already existing in our computer system. We are congratulating you for been one of the people selected for this month.

This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they have operational base. Further more your details (e-mail address) falls within our British representative office in United Kingdom , as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of Â£1,000,000.00 GBP will be released to you from our regionalÂ office in UK
Â
We hope with part of your prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes for Â£2.3 Billion GBP international draw.Â
Â
HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE
Â
Below particulars are your identification numbers.......................
Â Â
Â Batch number......................Lwh 09445
Â Lotto number........................Lwh09446
Â Winning number...................................................Lwh09447

To begin your claims, kindly contact the event manager, Dr. John Henry, with the following informationâ€™s listed below

1.FULL NAME..........................................
2.COUNTRY OF ORIGIN........................
3.PRESENT ADRESS...............................
4.POSTCODE............................................
5.DATE OF BIRTH....................................
6.SEX.............................................................
7.TELEPHONE NUMBER.........................
8.FAX NUMBER(IF ANY)..........................
9.MARITAL STATUS.................................
10.WINNING NUMBER,BATCH NUMBER AND LOTTO NUMBER..........
Â
11. OCCUPATION.............................................
Â Â
12. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF YOUR COMPANY/ INDIVIDUAL...............
Â
13. IN BRIEF EXPLANATION,HOW DO YOU INTEND TO USE YOUR WON PRIZE IN IMPOROVING YOUR STANDARD OF LIVING..................
Â
Fill this form and forward it to the Event Manager. As soon as you contact the Event Manager via this email address:
Â Â
EVENT MANAGER: DR. JOHN HENRY
CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER: +447011150741
CONTACT E-MAIL:Â eventmanagerprizeunit@winning.comÂ

He will advise you on what to do in order to get your prize money...................................
Â
For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this program by non-participant or unofficial personnel.
Â
Congratulations once more!!

Yours Sincerely ,
Â
MRS. CAMMIE DUNAWAY
LOTTO CO-ORDINATOR.Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
The Yahoo.com staff
Â
http://www.yahoo.comÂ
http://www.msn.comÂ http://www.hotmail.com

Â

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam