419 scam: "© Yahoo & Windows Live Awards Centre"<win@awards.com> [Spam] YAHOO & WINDOWS LIVE AWARDS WINNER BATCH NUMBER: MFI/013/APA-43645

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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:

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:
- "hundred thousand great british pounds" (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!

Fraud email example:

From: "© Yahoo & Windows Live Awards Centre" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <brantapetko@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:13:45 -0800
Subject: [Spam] YAHOO & WINDOWS LIVE AWARDS WINNER BATCH NUMBER: MFI/013/APA-43645

Yahoo & Windows Live Awards Centre
124 Stockport Road, Long sight,
Manchester M61 2DB - United Kingdom

Dear Prize Winner

We're euphoric to inform you that your email address has won an Award of Nine Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds
(900,000.00) for the 2009 Prize promotion organized by Yahoo & Windows Live Award Programme held in Manchester, United
Kingdom in month of october, 2009.The Management of Yahoo & Windows Live (Hotmail) collected all active email addresses online,
amongst millions that subscribed to Yahoo, Windows Live Hotmail and few from other e-mail providers. Twelve (12) people were randomly selected
through a computer ballot system to receive an Award of Nine Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds (900,000.00) and you
are one of the Selected Winners.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE / CLAIMS
Yahoo & Windows Live Award must be claimed not later than 30 days from date of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed
within this period will be forfeited as unclaimed prizes.

Stated below is your Award File Information:
BATCH NUMBER: MFI/013/APA-43645
REFERENCE NUMBER: 2608312500
PIN: 1299

You are required to send your personal details along with your Award File Information to the programme Assistant Award
Coordinator in the format below;
1. Full name:
2. Country:
3. Contact Address:
4. Telephone Number:
5. Marital Status:
6. Occupation:
7. Sex:
8. Date of Birth/Age:
9. Email Address:

Assistant Award Coordinator: Mr. Bratan Petko

Congratulations!! On your winning,
Sincerely Yours,
Neola Wilmington
Notification Officer
Yahoo & Windows Live Inc.

NB: Do not reply if you are NOT the intended recipient or owner of this email address; Disregard this notification if
you have been notified before.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo and Msn Awards Team will not be held liable for any loss of funds arising from the above mentioned.In event !
that you receive any e-mail similar to the notification letter that was sent to you, Kindly delete it from your mail box and
give no further correspondence to such person or body. Yahoo & Windows Live Awards Centre.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam