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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "yahoo lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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.
  • hellendons@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Yahoo Lottery Board" <hellendons@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2007 16:12:07 +0100
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! YAHOO LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL














CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! YAHOO
LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of
NINT HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND EURO(950, 000. 00 Euros)
,for the YEAR 2007 Lottery promotion which is organized by
YAHOO LOTTERY INC/OTHER WEB SITES, for the introduction of
the new YAHOO BETA MAIL which all YAHOO users are
required to switch onto.
YAHOO! &amp; MICROSOFT WINDOWS, arranged and gathered
all the e-mail addresses of the people that are active
online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and
Hotmail, and others we only select TWENTY (20) candidates
per annually as our winners through Electronic Balloting
System (EBS) without the candidate applying, we congratulate
you for being one of the people selected.

PAYMENT
OF PRIZE AND CLAIM

We are sorry that your Payment Approval File was
sent to Africa so that you can be cleared and paid
simultaneously there This is to avoid DRUG or TERRORISM
fund suspicion which is not iminent or comon in Africa. You
are to contact our UK Agent in Africa,to give you more
details for the collection of your winning fund.
Yahoo Beta Lottery Prize must be claimed not later than 14
days from date of Draw Notification after the Draw date in
which Prize has won.
Note. You are to bear the cost of recieving your prize
fund in any option you chosed of recieving your fund.

These are your identification numbers:

Batch number.....................YBM-EBS-390AF
Reff number........................YBM-EBS-719AF
Winning number...............YBM-EBS-798AF

To claim your prize money,you are required from the UK
Claimming Agent with your Batch number,Reff number,Winning
number through this email below.

CLAIMMING AGENT:Mrs. Hellen Dons
E-MAIL: hellendons@yahoo.com
CONTACT PHONE: +226 78 84 52 4.

You are therefore advised to send your information to him
to facilitate them and process the transfer of your fund
with the appointed paying bank in Africa.

You are advised to contact your Fiduciary Agent with the
following details to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications with your
Name (in Full) :
Country:
Address:
Direct Telephone No.:
Age:
Sex:
Occupation/position
Ticket Number:
Serial Number:
Congratulations once again.
Yours in service,




Mrs. Hellen Dons

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam