419 scam: Yahoo Lottery International Award 2010 <info@yahoo.co.uk> PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM

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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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million british pounds" (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)
- ",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.
- +447031885551 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: Yahoo Lottery International Award 2010 <info@yahoo.co.uk>
Reply-To: afroagentinc@netscape.net
Date: Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:06:41 +0200
Subject: PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM

YAHOO MAIL LOTTERY
124 Stockport Road,
Long sight, Manchester
M60 2 DB-United Kingdom

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of One Million
British Pounds (£1,000,000.00) for 2010 Prize promotion which is
organized by YAHOO, AOL & WINDOWS LIVE every (2) yrs.

YAHOO and MICRO SOFT 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 every two years 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 Center.
Yahoo Prize Award must be claimed no later than 28th days, from date
of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be
forfeited.

Stated below are your identification numbers: BATCH NUMBER:
MFI/08/APA-43658, REFERENCE NUMBER: 2008234522, PIN: 1208
WINNING NUMBER: 01 14 21 30 35 48

These numbers fall within the London Location file, you are requested
to contact our fiduciary agent in London United Kingdom and send your
winning identification numbers to him:

CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT
NAME: Mr.: Patrick Gill
E-Mail: liveinuk@ireland.com
TEL: +44 703 188 5551
You are advised to send the following information to your Claims Agent
to facilitate the release of of your fund to you.

1. Full name..............................
2. Country..................................
3. Contact Address.....................
4. Telephone Number.................
5. Fax Number.... ........................
5. Marital Status.........................
6. Occupation.............................
7. My Date of birth.....................
8. Sex.................................
9. Batch Number.................................
10. Reference Number.................................
11. Pin Number................................
12. Winning Number................................
13. Amount Won................................

Congratulations!! Once again.

Yours in service,

Dr. (Mrs.) Mercy Martins

WARNING!
You may also receive similar e-mails from people portraying to be
other Organizations of 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 mailbox 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. PLS SEND YOUR REPLY TO YOUR CLAIMING MANAGER
EMAIL ADDRESS :( liveinuk@ireland.com)

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Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam