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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
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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "00,000.00" (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)
  • "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
• 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.
  • +447031854225 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
  • +448452800014
• 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.
  • global.maxcarrier@btinternet.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:04:21 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: CONTACT THE GLOBAL MAX CARRIER FOR SHIPMENT


Dear Winner
 
On Behalf of the Screening Committee of Yahoo National Lottery, I wish to inform you that you have successfully passed the Email Screening and Verification Matching Test conducted for all online winners in your winning in accordance with the United Kingdom National Lottery Terms and Conditions. Hence you are therefore cleared for payment by the verifications and fund release department at the Yahoo National Lottery Headquarters and your winnings has been duly signed and approved for release to you as the rightful owner of the Lucky E-mail Address by the legal attorney to the Yahoo National Lottery.
 
As you already know, all winners for the online version of the Yahoo National Lottery Online promotions were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from an exclusive list of 250,000 e-mail addresses of individual and corporate bodies listed online as part of our international promotion to promote international co-operation between the Yahoo and other countries worldwide and I must say that you should count yourself extremely lucky to have emerged as one of our winners in this week's lucky dip sweepstakes and we do sincerely hope you will put part of your winnings into good use for community, educational and business development and also to render selfless services to the less privileged in your community.
 
The process for claiming your winnings has been made very simple so that by the end of one week at most, you are assured to received your winning prize of the sum of £500,000.00 GBP and all the legal documents backing your winnings. In the light of the above mentioned have be forwarded to the delivery company to have it send to you in your contact address, you are to contact the Agency that will be handling the transfer\delivery of your winning to you with the contact informations below:
 
Delivery Agency: Global Max Carrier Security Company {GMCSC}
Contact Person: Mr. Mike Mayor
Email Address: global.maxcarrier@btinternet.com
Telephone Num: + 44 7031854225
Fax Number : +44-8452800014
 
Note that you are to provide (Global Max Carrier Security Company {GMCSC}), the Agency that will be handling the delivery of your winnings, with the required details below to officially identify you:

FULL NAMES:
CONTACT ADDRESS:
MOBILE NO:

Note that there exists a periodic condition on all claims process; therefore you have limited time to claim your winnings. Failure to claim your winnings within the stipulated time frame will lead to the forfeiture of your winnings after which your winnings remitted back to the Yahoo National Lottery Headquarters and will then be added to next winning draws. Also kindly be aware that the Yahoo National Lottery winning prizes are regulated by the Financial Services Authority and as a result, you are advice to follow the Lottery Claims Terms and Conditions to ensure the remittance of your prize to you within the stipulated time of the claiming of winnings.
 
Further to this, due to some recent miss-up of some winning numbers, as a Prize winner and according to the Yahoo National Lottery Terms and Conditions, you are only privy to your winnings informations and your winnings transfer information in order to avoid any form of double claiming and misappropriation of your winnings, hence the release of your winning informations to a third party(friends and family members inclusive) is absolutely ruled out as this will lead give room to double claiming by a third party which is against the Yahoo National Lottery Terms and Conditions. You are hereby advice to keep your winning information personal from any third parties (friends and family members inclusive) until your winnings have been remitted to you.
 
Lastly, I will require a concise update on your proceedings with the Agency that will be handling the Delivery of your winning. If you need any assistance whatsoever from this office, please do not hesitate to inform me.

Yours Sincerely,
Robert Smith
Claims Processing Agent

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam