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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:

Fraud email example:

From: "Yahoo! Customer Care" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <alert.yahoocustomercare@gala.net>
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2010 10:46:43 -0700
Subject: Yahoo! Verification Alert!! {KMM69467VL055834KM}

Yahoo! 
 
We are really sorry for any inconvenience this might cause you. Due to the congestion in all Yahoo! account users, Yahoo! will be shooting down all unverified accounts. In order to avoid the deactivation of your account, you will have to confirm your e-mail by filling your Login Info below by clicking the reply button.
 
User name: .........................................
Password: ..........................................
Date Of Birth: .....................................
Occupation: .......................................
Country Of Residence: .........................
.
Please reply to this message. This is a service email related to your use of Yahoo! Mail. To learn more about Yahoo!'s use of personal information, including the use of web beacons in HTML-based email, please read our Privacy Policy. Yahoo! Mail is located at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089. 
 
Yahoo! Customer Care

Case number: 8941624
Property: Account Security
Contact date: 2010


 

Yahoo!Copyright © 2010 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

Anti-fraud resources: