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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
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "hundred thousand us dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
• 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: YAHOO LOTTERY <williamsahoo28@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 07:51:42 +0000
Subject: !!!CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE A WINNER OF YAHOO LOTTERY 2007!!!



Messenger Yahoo! Lottery Results you won $800.000! Yahoo! Mail Congratulate=
s you! Yahoo! Mail gives members random cash prizes. Today, your account is=
randomly selected as the one of 5 top winners accounts who will get cash p=
rizes from us. We are happy to inform you that you have won a prize money o=
f (Eight Hundred Thousand Us Dollars ($800,000) for the month of November,=
2007. Lottery winner promotion which is organized by yahoo messenger .com =
every month. YAHOO, collects all the mail ID of the =
people that are online on yahoo messenger, among the millions that subscri=
be to yahoo messenger we only select five people every month as our winners=
through electronic balloting System without the winner applying, we are c=
ongratulating you for been one of the people selected. All participant were=
selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thous=
and E-mail addresses from Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, M=
iddle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our international promotions prog=
ram which is conducted annually. This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by=
a conglomerate of somemultinational companies as part of their social resp=
onsibility to thecitizens in the communities where they have operational ba=
se.Further more your details (e-mail address) falls within our British repr=
esentative office in United Kingdom , as indicated in your play coupon and =
your prize of US $800,000 will be released to you from this regional branch=
office in UK. 2 We hope with part of your prize, you will participate in o=
ur end of yearhigh stakes for US $1.3 Billion international draw.HOW TO CLA=
IM YOUR PRIZEThese are your identification numbers.......... =
Batch number.......................YHL 08=
992 Lotto number........................YHL 96587 Winning number...........=
........YHL 09557 To begin your claims, kindly contact the Fiduciary Agent =
at this email address (mrbenbaker4@msn.com) You are required to forward h=
im with the following details: 1. FULL NAME2. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN3. PRESENT A=
DDRESS4. SEX5. DATE OF BIRTH6. AGE 7. OCCUPATION8. TELEPHONE NUMBER9. FAX N=
UMBER (IF ANY)10. MARITAL STATUS11. WINNING NUMBER, BATCH NUMBER AND LOTTO =
NUMBER.12 THE MONTH YOU WON................................................=
........ As soon as you contact the Attorney, he will advise you on what to=
do in order to get your prize money. Congratulations once more!! For secur=
ity reasons, we advice all winners to keep this informationconfidential fro=
m the public until your claim is processed and yourprize released to you. T=
his is part of our security protocol to avoiddouble claiming and unwarrante=
d taking advantage of this programme by non-participant or unofficial perso=
nnel. Yours Sincerely, Paul HumphreysLOTTO CO-ORDINATOR.The Yahoo.com staff=
Yahoo.com http://www.yahoo.com Yahoo! Lottery Results =
Yahoo! Lottery is a free service that does not requir=
e you to register or be a Yahoo! registered user before winning. ---------=
--------------------------------------------------------------Add a Yahoo! =
contact to Windows Live Messenger for a chance to win a free trip!
_________________________________________________________________
Who's friends with who and co-starred in what?
http://www.searchgamesbox.com/celebrityseparation.shtml

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam