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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: "Mrs. Bernita Antos" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mlcrosoftonlotry@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2011 06:14:26 -0800
Subject: Re: CONGRATULATION: YOU WON 10, MILLION US DOLLARS""""

Microsoft & Yahoo Awards Center
281 Ikorodu Road, off Ikoyi Avenue,
Lagos Nigeria office.
 
 
Dear Winner,
 
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Ten Million Us Dollars ($10,000,000.00) for 2011 Prize promotion which is organized by YAHOO, AOL & WINDOWS LIVE every (2) yrs.
 
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 African Nigeria Location file, you are requested to contact our fiduciary agent in Nigeria and send your winning identification numbers to him:
CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT:
NAME: MR DON WHITE
TELEPHONE: +234-709-260-8317.
Fax: 234-29306985
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. Country.....................................
3. Contact Address........................
4. Telephone Number....................
5. Fax Number.... ...........................
5. Marital Status............................
6. Occupation.................................
7. Date of birth.........................
8. Sex...............................................
9. Batch Number................................
10. Reference Number.......................
11. Pin Number.................................
12. Winning Number.........................
13. Amount Won................................
Congratulations!! Once again.
 
Yours in service,
Mrs. Bernita Antos.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
WARNING!
Do not tell people about your Prize Award until your money is successfully handed over to you to avoid disqualification that may arise from double claim.
You may also receive similar e-mails from people portraying to be other Organizations of yahoo Inc.
This is solely to collect your personal information from you and lay claim over your winning. In event that you receive any e-mail similar to the notification letter that was sent to you, kindly delete it from your mailbox and give no further correspondence to such person or body.
Yahoo shall not be held responsible for any loss of fund arising from the above mentioned. PLS SEND YOUR REPLY TO YOUR CLAIMING MANAGER EMAIL ADDRESS: mlcrosoftonlotery@yahoo.co.uk
Please note that a copy of your identification is urgently needed.

Anti-fraud resources: