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:

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")
- "greater london" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "claimsmanager2010@xnmsn.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- "verificationdesk@awdteam-pr.co.cc" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- "claimsmanager2010@xnmsn.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- "verificationdesk@awdteam-pr.co.cc" (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.
- +447024041859 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "MICROSOFT WINNING TEAM" <bibliomonde@noos.fr>
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2010 17:08:02 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: =?UTF-8?B?Q09OR1JBVFVMQVRJT05TwqkhISFDT05UQUNUIFlPVVIgQ0xBSU1T?=
=?UTF-8?B?IFNFQ1JFVEFSWSB2aWEgY2xhaW1zbWFuYWdlcjIwMTBAeG5tc24u?=
=?UTF-8?B?Y29t?=

Microsoft &Yahoo Award Team.
Baley House, Har Road
Sutton, Greater London
SM1 4te United A Kingdom.
Make sure you Reply to this EMAIL:
claimsmanager2010@xnmsn.com
OR verificationdesk@awdteam-pr.co.cc

Dear winner,

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of five hundred thousand pounds (£500,000) for the month of October, 2010 Prize promotion which is organized by YAHOO AWARDS & WINDOWS LIVE. YAHOO collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Hotmail and Yahoo 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 not later than 28days from the date of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited.

Stated below are your identification numbers:
Batch number....................12/25/0340
Ref number.......................Ref: MSN-L/200-26937
Winning number...................YM09788

These numbers fall within the England Location file, you are requested to contact our fiduciary agent in Manchester and send your winning identification numbers to him;

Agent Name:Mr. Mark Adams
(VERIFICATION &CLAIMS DEPARTMENT MANAGER)
Emails claimsmanager2010@xnmsn.com OR verificationdesk@awdteam-pr.co.cc
Cell number.. +447024041859

You are advised to send the following information to your Claims Agent to facilitate the release of of your fund to you.
Note This is not a joke, though you may be surprised.

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 Winning Number................................

Congratulations!! once again.

Yours in service,
Mrs. Felicia Walker
(Operation Manager)
==========================================================================
WARNING!

Do not tell people about your Prize Award until your money is successfully handed over to you to avoid disqualification that may arise from double claim.

You may also receive similar e-mails from people potraying 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.
Winning Number:

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam