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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• 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:
  • "greater london" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "into your nominated bank account" (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.
  • +447005938356 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
  • onlinetransferdept@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Citisprintcourier Services <citisprintcourier1@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:38:30 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?q?Contact=20The=20Paying=20Bank=20For=20The=20Tansfer=20Of?=
=?iso-8859-1?q?=20Your=20Won=20Fund(=A31.000.000.00)?=


Yahoo/Msn Lottery Incorporation
Baley House, Har Road Sutton,
Greater London SM1 4te
United Kingdom .

Attention: G.M. de Jong Buitenweg,

We wish to congratulate you and formally inform you that you have been selected to receive the sum of One Million Great Britain Pound Sterling (£1,000.000.00) in this year's Yahoo Msn donation, in conjunction with the MICROSOFT WINDOWS.

You should note that your email address in addition to millions of company and individual email addresses were extracted with a software and the addresses were scrutinized with a ballot system and after the process, 50 email addresses were selected and they were shared into 5 categories respectively and which you are a winner in the 2nd category of (£1,000.000.00) .The said sum is now deposited in a suspense/escrow account with our security firm, in your favor waiting for the immediate remittance into your nominated bank account.

Be informed that your cash donation has a hardcover insurance policy that makes it impossible to make any deduction of any kind, until the sum is finally credited into your designated account.

However,YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE. has been notified of this development and the status of your claim.

Below is the legal and official procedure on how you will get your fund donation:
You are to send All your Winning details to the paying Bank CITI BANK UK along with a copy of your valid identification document(either driver's license or international passport)for identification and verification purpose.

(1)Full Name:
(2)Sex:
(3)Age:
(4)Occupation:
(5)Country:
(6)Contact Phone Number:
(7)Batch Number........YM 09102XM
(8)Reff Number...........YM 35447XM
(9)Winning Number....DTYFM0988

Note:You are to contact the paying Bank immediately via the below stated email address and they will instruct you on what to do.

CITI BANK FOREIGN TRANSFER DEPT
336 Strand, London, WC2R 1HB, UK.
Mr. Terry Smith (Online banking).
Tel:+44 (701) 1149656
Fax: +447005-938-356
Email: onlinetransferdept@yahoo.co.uk

This process is vital and urgent following the instruction from our clients that all donations should be claimed not later than 15days from now otherwise your cash donation will be returned back to its original source which means you have lost your cash award.

Once again accept our congratulations and we look forward to hearing from you soon. Always get back to me on how you go with bank.

Best Regards
Mr Walter Cook
Yahoo/Msn Lottery Incorporation.



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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam