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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "yahoo/msn lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
- "yahoo/msn lottery" (no such lottery exists)
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "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)
- "msndept10@live.com" (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.
- +447014233146 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs.Tricia Anthony." <msndept47@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: msndept10@live.com
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 23:38:22 +0530
Subject: YOU HAVE WON: =?iso-8859-1?b?KKMxLDAwMA==?= 000.00)GREAT BRITISH
POUNDS,

YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE ESTABLISHED: 2004
JURISDICTION: UNITED KINGDOM GOVERNMENT AC CREDITED LICENSED.
REGISTERED UNDER THE DATA PROTECTION,ACT (REGISTRATION 0201GFRM7)
AMOUNT WON: £1,000 000.00 Great British Pounds.

Dear Lucky Winner,

This is to inform you that you have won prize money of One
Million British
Pounds £1,000 000.00.The End OF Year Promotion Award Draw was held on
20th,December 2010 in The United Kingdom .The Lottery Promo was organized by
YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INCORPORATED AND WINDOWS LIVE.

The objectives of the End of Year Christmas Season Celebration Fiesta
Award Promo is to help individuals from countries facing natural disaster,
terrorist attacks,Floods and less privileged.For the first time YAHOO/MSN INC
decided to render help. The selection was carried out from World-Wide-Web and
was randomly selected through,Email Selection System(ESS).From a Data Base of
over 1050,000 Email addresses world wide.Your email was selected as one of the
10Lucky winners.

YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY identification numbers and your winning should be kept
confidential until your cash prize award is delivered to your door step.Do not
disclose your winning identification numbers to any one to avoid
disqualification.This is a part of our security measures to avoid double
claiming or unwarranted participants or impostors,taking advantage of the
situation Failure to claim your prize.

Below are your identification numbers, always quote them whenever you are
writing us for security reasons.

Your Reference and Batch number:

Batch number....................YM 09102XN
Ref number......................YM35447XN
Winning number..................YM09788

However you will have to fill and submit this form to the events manager for
verification & direction on how you can claim your Winning Price.

To claim your prize, please contact our Certified and Accredited claims
agent for category "C" winners with the information below:
*************************************
Name: DR GREEN SCOTT
TEL: +447014233146
E-mail:msndept10@live.com
*************************************
Endeavour to provide him with the following
information in your contact
with him.

1. Full Name:
2. Contact Address:
3. Age:
4. Mobile Number:
5. Marital Status:
6. Sex:
7. Occupation:
8. Company:
9.State:
10.Country:
11.E-Mail:
12.Annual Income:
13.Id Proof:Attach scanned copy.

You are to keep all lotto information confidential,
especially your reference and ticket numbers.

Yours Faithfully,

Mrs.Tricia Anthony.
Lottery Co-ordinator
YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INCORPORATED AND WINDOWS LIVE.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam