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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:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "greater london" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "to your nominated bank account" (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)
  • "transfer of your funds" (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!
• This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +447024028761 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • msnlotteryagentmartins@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: microsoft@live.com
Reply-To: msndeptmartins@live.com
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:13:40 -0500
Subject: (Ref:MSN-L/200-26937) YOUR EMAIL ID HAVE WON (=?ISO-8859-1?B?ozUwMCwwMDAp?=

Msn Award Team
Baley House, Har Road
Sutton, Greater London
SM1 4te United Kingdom.
Batch: 12/25/0340
Ref:MSN-L/200-26937


Hello Winners


This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS (£500,000) for the month of
January 2008 Lottery promotion which is organized by YAHOO LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE.YAHOO & MICROSOFT WINDOWS,
collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and
Hotmail we only select five people every Month as our winners through electronic balloting System without the winner
applying,we congratulate you for being one of the people selected.


PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM

You are to contact your Claims Agent with immediate effect to faciliate the protocol of your winning prized before the
date of Claim,Winners Shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre Prize must be claimed not later than 15
days from date of Draw Notification after the Draw date in which Prize has won. Any prize not claimed within this period
will be forfeited.These are your identification numbers:


Batch number...................12/25/0340
Reff number.......................MSN-L/200-26937
Winning number...................YM09788


To begin your claim please contact our licensed and accredited agent assigned to you

Mr. Terry Martins
(VERIFICATION DEPARTMENT MANAGER)
Email:msnlotteryagentmartins@yahoo.com.hk
Tel No:+44 702 402 8761

You are therefore advised to send the following information to the claims agent to facilitate them and in order for them
to have access in proceeding with the transfer of your funds to your nominated bank account.

1. Full name............
2. Country..............
3. Contact Address........
4. Telephone Number.......
5. Marital Status.........
6. Occupation.............
7. Company..............
8. Age....................


Msn Lottery Prize must be claimed not later than 15 days from date of Draw Notification after the Draw date in which
Prize has won. Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited.

Congratulations!! once again.
Yours in service,

Mrs.Tracy Kelly.
(Operation Manager)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam