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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:

Fraud email example:

From: "YAHOO.INTERNET WINNING AWARD PROGRAM" <infonoticemail001dept@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:14:18 +0100
Subject: Congratulations!!! Yahoo Int. Award Winning Jan. 2008



You won $520,000.00! Yahoo! Mail congratulates you!
(Yahoo! Mail) Messenger
YAHOO INTERNET AWARD(arabtrans@arabtrans.com src="http://www.arabtrans.com/email.gif) [http://mail.yahoo.com/config/login?/ym/Compose?To=arabtrans@arabtrans.com]
CONGRATULATIONS!

YOU WON $520,000.00!

Yahoo Mail! gives their members random cash prizes. Today, your email account is randomly selected as one among the 12 top winners to get cash prizes. We hereby inform you that you have won a prize money of (Five Hundred And Twenty Thousand US Dollars) ($520,000.00) for the month of (JANUARY-2008). Yahoo Internet Promotion Program is organized by yahoo.messenger and microsoft. YAHOO! collects all the mail id of all the yahoo and microsoft users online, among the millions that subscribe to the world email we only select twelve people draw as our winners through electronic balloting System without the winner application, We congratulates you for been one of the selected winners for the month of January draw. All participant were selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our international promotions program which is conducted seasonly.
This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the commmunities where they have operational base. Further more your details(e-mail address) falls within our Spanish representative, as indicated in the electronic balloting system and your prize of $520,000.00 USD will be released to you from this regional branch office in Spain. After due verifications and confirmations.
These are your identification numbers... Batch number..................... S.B (09445) ES Lotto number.......................L5W220108 Winning Ref. number...................Y-I-L/0011097
To begin your claims, kindly contact the Fudiciary Agent: (Mr. Williams Arinze) of SEGUROS BILBAO on telephone nº: <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = SKYPE /><SKYPE:SPAN onmouseup="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,1,'0',false,16,'');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" class=skype_tb_injection oncontextmenu="javascript:skype_tb_SwitchDrop(this,'0','sms=1');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmousedown="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,2,'0',false,16,'');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" id=softomate_highlight_0 onmouseover="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,1,'0',false,16,'');" title="Call this phone number in Spain with Skype: +34693100298" onclick="javascript:doRunCMD('call','0',null,0);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmouseout="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,0,'0',false,16,'');" context="+ 34-693 100 298" durex="0"><SKYPE:SPAN class=skype_tb_imgA id=skype_tb_droppart_0 title="This is a Spain phone number. The country code cannot be changed." style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(C:\Users\ECHE-C~1\AppData\Local\Temp\Low\__SkypeIEToolbar_Cache\e70d95847a8f5723cfca6b3fd9946506\static\inactive_a.compat.stat.w16.gif)"><SKYPE:SPAN class=skype_tb_imgFlag id=skype_tb_img_f0 style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(C:\Users\ECHE-C~1\AppData\Local\Temp\Low\__SkypeIEToolbar_Cache\e70d95847a8f5723cfca6b3fd9946506\static\famfamfam/ES.gif)"></SKYPE:SPAN></SKYPE:SPAN><SKYPE:SPAN class=skype_tb_imgS_stat id=skype_tb_img_s0></SKYPE:SPAN><SKYPE:SPAN class=skype_tb_injectionIn id=skype_tb_text0><SKYPE:SPAN class=skype_tb_innerText id=skype_tb_innerText0>+ 34-693 100 298. </SKYPE:SPAN></SKYPE:SPAN></SKYPE:SPAN>/ Fax nº: + 34-965 992 201. email contacts :- info_segbilbaoex01consultant@ozu.es or [mailto:urobilbao@or] info_seguroex01rep@ozu.es [mailto:info_seguroex01rep@ozu.esp] and You are required to contact this office with immediate effect to declear your winning by present the following details: 1. WINNING NUMBER, BATCH NUMBER AND LOTTO NUMBER2. FULL NAME3. ADDRESS4. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN5. TELEPHONE NUMBER6. FAX NUMBER(IF ANY)7. EMAIL ADDRESS8. AGE 9. OCCUPATION10.SEX11.THE MONTH YOU WON NOTE: Do remember to quote your identification numbers in contacting your agent and they will direct you on how to process and claim your winning prize money and for security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from "public notice" until your claim is processed and your prize released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this programe by participant/non-participant or unofficial personnel. Congratulations once again and compliments of the season! Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Vinton Cerf (PHD)LOTTO CO-ORDINATOR.


(arabtrans@arabtrans.com src="http://www.arabtrans.com/email.gif)
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