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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "YAHOO AND WINDOWS LIVE AWARD" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <claimoffice@yahoowindowsliveaward.org>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:50:39 +0100
Subject: Congratulation You Are A Winner Of The Yahoo And Windows Live Award

YAHOO & WINDOWS LIVE AWARDS
Tel: +44-7045719921 Fax +44-172-172-4021 124
Stockport Road, Longsight, Manchester M60 2DB - United Kingdom
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great Britain Pounds (GBP 250,000) for the, FOR THE YAHOO & WINDOWS LIVE AWARDS FOR 2009 Prize promotion which is organized by YAHOO AWARDS & WINDOWS LIVE.
YAHOO collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail and few from other e-mail providers. Ten (10) people are selected yearly to benefit from this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners. Winners shall be paid in accordance with their Settlement Centers. Yahoo Prize Award must be claimed not later than 30 days from date of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited and returned to its source as unclaimed. Stated below are your identification numbers:
BATCH NUMBER: MFI/06/APA-43658
REFERENCE NUMBER: 2007234522
PIN: 1207
You are requested to contact our co-ordinator in Manchester and send your winning identification batch numer and reference number to him:
Award coordinator's Name: Mr. Peter Moon .
E-Mail: claimoffice@yahoowindowsliveaward.org
Tel: Tel: +44 7045719921
Fax +44-172-172-4021
Yours in service,
Mrs. Rose Mona Lisa (Awardscoordinator)

Anti-fraud resources: