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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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.

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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "yahoo lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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!

Fraud email example:

From: Fiduciary Office <fiduciarry_office@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 08:52:27 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Contact The Security And Delivery Services ( deliveryupdate@yahoo.co.uk )


Messenger Yahoo! Lottery Results You won £800.000! Yahoo! Mail congratulates you!

You are among the 10 lucky winners of this year online yahoo lottery, and you email address was selected. To claim your price you are required to furnish us with detail below.

1. FULL NAME
2. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
3. PRESENT ADRESS.
4. DIRTH OF BIRTH
5. OCCUPATION
6. TELEPHONE NUMBER
6. FAX NUMBER (IF ANY)
7. MARITAL STATUS
8. WINNING NUMBER, BATCH NUMBER AND LOTTO NUMBER.

Regards,
Mark Wakefield
Fiduciary Agent.
Verifications/Logistic Department
The Yahoo Lottery Inc.


Note. It’s important that you keep your winnings very confidential as we have received several bogus emails from person using winner’s identity to press for claims. We have paid several imposter's who successfully represent themselves as winners probably because they got into winners identity. It’s important you heed to this advice.
Yahoo! Lottery is a free service that does not require you to register or be a Yahoo! registered user before winning.

Nervous about who has your email address? Protect yourself with AddressGuard, new from Yahoo! Mail.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam