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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "greater london" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- ",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)
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- "agentfrankmoore@fastwebmail.it" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- "agentfrankmoore@fastwebmail.it" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
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.
- +447031882989 (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.
- frank.f.moore@hotmail.com (Hotmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: YAHOO MESSENGER LOTTERY <yahoolottery_draw2010@in.com>
Reply-To: agentfrankmoore@fastwebmail.it
Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 07:25:18 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?CONGRATULATIONS!!!YOU_WON_=A32=2C000=2C000=2E00_Great_Brit?=
=?iso-8859-1?Q?ish_Poundsterling!!!?=

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

YOU

WON £2,000,000.00 Great British Poundsterling!!!

YAHOO
INTERNET LOTTERY INC
Barley House, Har-Road
Sutton,

Greater
London
SM1

4te
United
Kingdom.

Dear
Sir/ma,
YAHOO
LOTTERY
WINNING
NOTIFICATION!!

Yahoo
Mail! gives members random cash prizes. Today, your e-mail account is
randomly selected as one of the "12" top Lucky winners e-mail accounts
who will get cash prizes from us. We are happy to inform you that you
have won a prize

money
of
Two Million Great British
Poundsterling (£2,000,000.00GBP) for

the Year 2010, Yahoo lottery
win promotions which is organized by yahoo

messenger
.com

Yahoo, collects

all the mail id's of the people that are online and offline on yahoo
messenger and
other related Networks. Among the millions that subscribe
to yahoo

messenger and other Microsoft users of msn, hotmail, altavista, gmail
and

others not mentioned here. we only select Twelve people every month
as our winners through electronic balloting System without the winner
applying, we are therefore congratulating you for being one of the
people selected for this month Promotions. All participant (Winners) were selected through a
computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail
addresses extracted

from all the (Continents) Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East,
Africa and Oceania
as part of our international promotions program which is conducted
annually.

This Lottery was promoted and
sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational Global companies
in-conjunction with the United
Nations
(UN) as part of our social responsibility to the citizens in the
communities where we have operational base and Multitude of subscribers
in our International Network. Further more your details(e-mail address)
falls within our EUROPEAN representative
office
in LONDON,UNITED KINGDOM, as indicated in this notice and your prize
Money
amount of £2,000,000.00GBP will be released to
you from this regional branch office in United

Kingdom.
We
hope, with part of your prize, you will participate in our end of the
year (2010) high stakes of £4 Million international draw.

INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO
CLAIM YOUR PRIZE

KINDLY

CONTACT OUR CLAIMS DEPARTMENT CENTRE UNITED KINGDOM .

CONTACT
PERSON: DR FRANK MOORE
( Winner's
directorate office ( EMAIL:frank.f.moore@hotmail.com
( EMAIL agentfrankmoore@fastwebmail.it

Official ( EMAIL:
agentfrankmoore@fastwebmail.it

TEL:+447031882989

These are your Winning
identification numbers..

Serial

number:..........................5388/02

Draw
lucky numbers:...31-6-2613357
Ticket number:.......56475600545
188
Batch
number.....................Lwh 09102
Lotto
number..........................Lwh35447
Winning
number...................Lwh09788

YOU
ARE KINDLY ADVISED TO FORWARD YOUR ABOVE STATED WINNING IDENTIFICATION
NUMBERS TO THE CLAIMS OFFICE FOR VERIFICATION, CLARIFICATION AND
PROCEEDING CLAIMS.

Note
that as soon as you contact the claims office, the Claims Agent (Dr.
Frank Moore) will immediately commence the claims processes by given
you the online Procedures and Directives for the processing and
transfer of your prize

Money to you.
.

Congratulations once
more!!

For
security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information
Strictly confidential from the public until your Fund is processed and
transferred to you. This is part of our Official security protocols to
avoid double claims and unwarranted taking advantage of this program by
non-participant or unofficial personnel's.

Now take the next step and claim
your money and say thanks to Yahoo!.
Past winners.

You
select how to transfer the prize money to you:

Cheque Delivery To Your Address

Bank Account Transfer

Diplomatic Means

Yours Sincerely,

DR. LOUISE
BROWN
(PHD)

LOTTO CO-ORDINATOR.

The Yahoo.com staff

Yahoo.com http://www.yahoo.com

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam