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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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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.

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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• 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!
• This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
  • price_centre@consultant.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Yahoo Award <youwon71@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <infodept_award@yahoo.fr>
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 16:53:30 +0000
Subject: YOU HAVE WON YAHOO INTERNET LOTTERY







You won 1,810,000 euros Yahoo! Mail congratulates you!


Messenger
YAHOO INTERNET LOTTERY

CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU WON 1,810,000 EUROS






Today, your account is randomly selected by Yahoo as one of the 7 top winners accounts who will get cash prizes from us. We are happy to inform you that you have won a prize money of (One million , eight hundred and ten euros only) ( 1,810,000 euros) for the month of october yahoo email lottery promotion which is organized by yahoo.messenger.com every month for the african raffel draw help in cotonou-benin republic .

YAHOO! collects all the mail id of the people that are online, among the millions that subscribe to the world email we only select seven people every month as our winners through electronic balloting System without the winner applying , we are congratulating you for being one of the people selected . All participant were selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-ma il addresses from Canada , Australia , United States , Asia , Europe , Middle East , Africa and Oceania as part of our international promotions program which is conducted monthly .
This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by Yahoo ! Mail as part of their social responsibility to email users worldwide . Further more your details (e-mail address) falls within our African representative office in Benin republic , as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of 1,810,000 euros will be released to you from this regional branch office in Benin ,
We hope with part of your prize , you will participate in our end of year high stakes for 1.3 Billion euros international draw .
HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE
These are your identification numbers.

Reference : EGR/417331247/03
Batch : BATCH NUMBER: 72/50685/MMH

To begin your claims, kindly contact the Fiduciary Agent Snr. Robert Williams of WINTERTHUR SEGURIDAD S.A BENIN Tel: + 228 900 521 29 , email : price_centre@consultant.com As soon as you contact your agent , he will advise you on what to do in order to get your prize money.

Congratulations once more !!

For security reasons , we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize released to you . This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this programm e by non-participant or unofficial personnel.

Yours Sincerely,

DR. ANTONIO GOMEZ.
http://www.yahoo.com
_________________________________________________________________
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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam