419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",000,000" (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)
- "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)
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.
- +447035929019 (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.
- garyjames@winning.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
- 3agaryjames@winning.com

Fraud email example:

From: Yahoo Mail Beta Lottery <winningnotification@yahlott.com>
Reply-To: garyjames@winning.com
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2009 09:27:18 -0700
Subject: Welcome To Yahoo!Mail Beta Award Lottery 2009 (Your Email Address Is
Selected).

Yahoo! Inc.
Customer Care
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089.
USA.

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of One Million USD
(US$1,000,000.00 ) in the YEAR 2008/2009 YAHOO! Lottery promotion which is
organized by YAHOO! LOTTERY INC for the introduction and Launching of the
New YAHOO ! BETA MAIL which all YAHOO! subscribers are required to switch
to.

YAHOO! & MICROSOFT WINDOWS, arranged and gathered all the e-mail addresses
of the people that are active online, among the Millions that subscribe at
YAHOO!, HOTMAIL and others we only selected THREE candidates as our winners
after undergoing the random selection process through Electronic Balloting
System (E.B.S) without the candidate applying, we congratulate you for being
one of the people selected.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM

You are to contact the Claim Agent Mr. Gary James who will issue you a
clearance paper as a winning certificate approved and certified from our
Regional office in London, and your prize money will be released to you from
any of our regional promotion banks as directed by the claim agent.

YAHOO! Beta Lottery Prize must be claimed not later than 14 days from date
of Draw Notification in which Prize has been won .

Note: (Any prize not claimed within this period 15 days) will be forfeited.

IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS:

Batch number.....................YBM-EBS-390AF
Reff number........................YBM-EBS-719AF
Winning number...............YBM-EBS-798AF

Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European
Regional booklet representative office in London as indicated in your play
coupon. In view of this, your (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States
Dollars) will be released to you by our payment Regional offices in EUROPEAN
PAYMENT CENTER Precisely London.

CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT HERE
Our European Fiduciary Claims Agent:
Mr. Gary James
Official Email:garyjames@winning.com <Email%3Agaryjames@winning.com>
Phone: + 44 7035 929019.

Enjoy Online Lottery

YAHOO!MAIL BETA LOTTERY APPROVED

Send your Identification Numbers/Your Personal Information to him so that he
will proceed further for your prize claim immediately:

PERSONAL INFORMATION

1. Full Name:.......................................
2. Nationality/Religion:.............................
3. Contact Address:................................
4. Telephone Number:.............................
5. Fax Number:.......................................
6. Da te of Birth:......................................
7. Occupation.........................................
8. Age..................................................
9. Sex..............................................
10. Alternative E-mail address:.................
11. Next of Kin of the Beneficiary in case...........

You are advised to keep your winning information confidential to avoid
double claim and abuse of the program until your prize is paid to you.

We hope you're enjoying your new Yahoo! Mail account. Now take the next step
and claim your money and say thanks to Yahoo!

This prize will be released to you from any of our promotional banks as will
be directed by the London Claim/verification agent.

Yahoo! UK & Ireland

Copyright © 2009 Yahoo Inc!. All rights reserved

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam