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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: brooks brown <brooksbrown@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 23:45:46 +0000
Subject: YAHOO!! MAIL CONGRATULATES YOU!!


Messenger Yahoo! Lottery Results You won £350,000.00! Yahoo! Mail congratulates you! Yahoo! Mail announce you as one of the 10 lucky winners in the ongoing Yahoo! Lottery Draw held on the 9th of August, 2007. All
10 winning email addresses were randomly selected from a batch of
50,000,000 international emails each from Canada , Australia , United
States , Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our
international promotions program which is conducted annually.Consequently,
you have been approved for a total pay of 350,000.00 GBP (THREE HUNDRED
AND FIFTY THOUSAND GREAT BRITISH POUNDS STERLING ). This
Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some
multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the
citizens in the communities where they have operational base.Further
more your details(e-mail address) falls within our British
Representative Office in the United Kingdom , as indicated in your play
coupon and your prize of 350,000.00 GBP will be released to you from
this regional branch office in the UK. Find below your identification numbers: Batch Number.....................Lwh 09445 Lotto Number......................Lwh 09446 Winning Number.................Lwh 09447 Our
Yahoo!'s Agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the
release of your funds as soon as you contact her. For security reasons,
you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your
claims is processed and your prize remitted
to you in whatever manner you deem fit. This is part of our
precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of
this program. Please be warned. To
file for claim, fill out the information required in the verification
form and establish contact via e-mail between the hours of 8.00am -
7.30pm on Monday through Saturday and contact our overseas claims unit
with the information below: OVERSEAS CLAIMS UNIT Yahoo! Lottery Fiduciary Contact Person: Copper Brooks: kupperbrooks@yahoo.co.uk VERIFICATION AND CLEARANCE FORM 1. FULL NAMES:________________________________2. ADDRESS:____________________________________________________________________________________3. SEX:__________4. AGE:__________5. MARITAL STATUS:________________________6. OCCUPATION:_____________________________7. E-MAIL ADDRESS:_________________________8. TELEPHONE NUMBER:_____________________9A. LOTTO NUMBER:________________________ B. WINNING NUMBER:______________________10. BATCH NUMBER:_________________________11. AMOUNT WON:___________________________12. COUNTRY:________________________________ 13. MODE OF PAYMENT: COURIER, ONLINE TRANSFER OR DIPLOMAT (Please indicate) Goodluck from me and members of staff of the Yahoo! LOTTERY.Yours faithfully, Dr. Johnson Blake.Online coordinator for Yahoo! LOTTERYSweepstakes International Program. The Yahoo.com staffYahoo.com http://www.yahoo.comThe Yahoo.com staffYahoo.com http://www.yahoo.com Yahoo! Lottery Results Yahoo! Lottery is a free service that does not require you to be a Yahoo! registered user.
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