419 scam: John Wesley <agent.john_wesley@yahoo.co.uk> URGENT

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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 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: John Wesley <agent.john_wesley@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 10:07:40 +0100 (BST)
Subject: URGENT

Dear Winner,
On behalf of the linux lottery U.K, I sincerly wish to congratulate you for emerging as one of the lucky winners of our online lottery currently going on. You are required to fill and return your claims verification form within 4 working days from now to enable us procces your winnings.
Congratulations once again from all members and staff of linux incorporation.
Kindest Regards,
John Wesley.

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Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam