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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:

Fraud email example:

From: "YAHOO MAIL LOTTERY" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <patrickgrattan1@gala.net>
Date: Wed, 25 May 2011 17:59:46 +0200
Subject: YAHOO MAIL LOTTERY






UK YAHOO MAIL LOTTERY
124 Stockport Road, Long sight, Manchester M60 2 DB-United Kingdom

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of One Million British Pounds (£1,000,000.00) for 2011 Prize promotion which is organized by YAHOO, AOL & WINDOWS LIVE, MSN this 2011


YAHOO and MICRO SOFT 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. Six people are selected every two years to benefit from this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM.

Winners shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Center. Yahoo Prize Award must be claimed no later than 28th days, from date of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited.

Stated below are your identification numbers: BATCH NUMBER: MFI/08/APA-43658, REFERENCE NUMBER: 2008234522, PIN: 1208
WINNING NUMBER: 01 14 21 30 35 48


These numbers fall within the Johannesburg Location file, you are requested to contact our fiduciary agent in South Africa and send your winning identification numbers to him for payment:

CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT
NAME: PATRICK GRATTAN
E-Mail: patrickgrattan1@gala.net
TEL: +27736725271
You are advised to send the following information to your Claims Agent to facilitate the release of of your fund to you.
1. Full name.
2. Contact Address.
3. Telephone Number
4. Fax Number.
5. Occupation.
6. Batch Number
7. Reference Number
8. Pin Number....
9. Winning Number.


Congratulations!! Once again.

Yours in service,

Dr. (Mrs.) Mercy Hartemink



Anti-fraud resources: