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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
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• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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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:

• 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:
  • "claims 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!
• 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.
  • +447023024890 (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.
  • info.msw8721@yahoo.com.hk

Fraud email example:

From: "Sanseverino, Michelle R" <mic.sans9@uky.edu>
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:19:31 -0400
Subject: Ref:MSW-Y/101OXI/02(contact Mr.Walter Hamilton, Email:
info.msw8721@yahoo.com.hk)




Dear Prize Winner
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of five hundred thousand pounds(£500,000) for the Lottery promotion which is organized by YAHOO LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE.YAHOO. Collections all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail we only select five people every Month as our winners through electronic balloting System without the winner applying,we congratulate you for being one of the people selected.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM

You are to contact your Claims Agent with immediate effect to faciliate the protocol of your winning prized before the date of Claim,Winners Shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre. These are your identification numbers:
Batch number...................12/25/0340
Reff number.......................Ref:MSW-Y/101OXI/02
Winning number...................YM09788
To begin your claim please contact our licensed and accredited agent assigned to you
Mr.Walter Hamilton
(VERIFICATION DEPARTMENT MANAGER)
Email: info.msw8721@yahoo.com.hk
Tel: +447023024890
You are therefore advised to send the following information to the claims agent to facilitate them and in order for them to have access in proceeding with the delivery of your winnings.
1. Full name:2.Country:3. Contact Address:4. Telephone Number:5. Marital Status:6. Occupation:7. Age:

Yours in service,
Mrs.Cynthia Ann Baron.
(Operation Manager).

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam