419 scam: Yahoo & Microsoft Award Promotion 2010 <blackshell2232@aim.com> CONGRATULATIONS YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HAS WON!!!!

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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:

The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (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.
- +447045717401 (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.
- claimsagent.steveam23@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: Yahoo & Microsoft Award Promotion 2010 <blackshell2232@aim.com>
Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 21:36:55 -0400
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HAS WON!!!!

Yahoo Awards Center
From The Desk Of The Promotions Manager
International Promotions/Yahoo Award Center
124 Stockport Road, Long sight,
Manchester M60 2DB - United Kingdom

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of (USD $
800,000.00) Eight hundred thousand United States Dollars for the month
of May/June 2010 Prize promotion draw which is organized by YAHOO
AWARDS & MICROSOFT WINDOWS LIVE. The email selection balloting machine
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 monthly to benefit from
this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM

Winners shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre.
Yahoo Prize Award must be claimed no later than 20 days from date of
Draw Notification.

Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited. Stated
below are your identification numbers:

IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS:

Batch number.....................YBM-EBS-390AF
Reff number........................YBM-EBS-719AF
Winning number...............YBM-EBS-798AF
PIN: 1291
These numbers fall within the England Location file, you are requested
to contact our fiduciary agent in London and send your winning
identification numbers to him; Below you will find a Documentation
Form, requesting you're required Particulars.

YAHOO ONLINE DOCUMENTATION FORM

FULL NAMES:__________________________________
ADDRESS:
_________________________________________________CITY:___________________

______

STATE:__________________________________ ZIP: _____________________

PHONE:_____________________
FAX:__________________________________

COUNTRY________________________________

SEX:_______________

AGE:__________________

MARITAL STATUS: _________________

OCCUPATION: ________________________

E-MAIL ADDRESS: _____________________________

NATIONALITY_________________________

You are required to fill and submit the above particulars to our
Overseas /United Kingdom Claim Agent with the below email address.

Overseas Claims/Exchange Online Payment Unit

Contact Person: Name: Rev. Fr. Steve Amstill
Tel/Fax: +44-704-571-7401
Email: steveamstill50@live.com or claimsagent.steveam23@gmail.com

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

At your disposal, I remain.
Yours in service,

Dr. (Mrs.) Amanda Ford.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
WARNING!
Be careful not to disclose your Prize Award details to any body until
your money is successful handed over to you to avoid disqualification
that may arise from double claim. You may also receive similar e-mails
from people portraying to be other Organizations or Yahoo Inc. This is
solely to collect your personal information from you and lay claim
over your winning. In event that you receive any e-mail similar to the
notification letter that was sent to you, kindly delete it from your
mail box and give no further correspondence to such person or body.
Yahoo shall not be held responsible for any loss of fund arising from
the above mentioned.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam