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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "YAHOO MSN LOTTERY 2008" <yahoolottery2008_yahoolottery2008@klikni.cz>
Reply-To: rev_fatherjohnson1987@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 01:01:45 +0100
Subject: Congratulations!!! Your email has won a Bonanza Award of 485 000 GB Pounds


CONGRATULATIONS!

We are delighted to inform you that you have won the sum of 485,000.00 GBP
from YAHOO! MSN (WINDOWS LIVE) Awards programmer.

YAHOO! collects all the email addresses of the people that are active
online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hot mail and few
from other e-mail providers. Six people are selected monthly to benefit from
this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM
Winners shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre. Yahoo
Prize Award must be claimed not later than 15 days from date of Draw
Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited.

Stated below are your identification numbers:
BATCH NUMBER: YPA/07-43658
REFERENCE NUMBER: 2007234522
PIN: 1206
you are hereby advice to get back to us by
contacting with your Clearance Officer REV FATHER JOHNSON
for your Claim.

Contact:REV FATHER JOHNSON.
EMAIL:rev_fatherjohnson1987@yahoo.com<EMAIL%3Arev_fatherjohnson1987@yahoo.com>
TELEPHONE:+447031848598


CLAIMS REQUIREMENTS FULL NAME:
COUNTRY:
HOME ADDRESS:
MOBILE NUMBER:
HOME NUMBER:
AGE:
SEX:
AL STATUS:
OCCUPATION:
ANNUAL INCOME IN POUNDS:

Yours faithfully, Mrs.. Carol Jones On line co-ordinator for YAHOO AWARDS &
WINDOWS LIVE PROGRAMME, Sweepstakes International program.
------------------------------ ------------------------------
------------------------------ ------------------------------ -------------
WARNING ! Do not tell people about your Prize Award until your money is
successfully handed over to you to avoid disqualification that may arise
from double claim. You may also receive similar e-mails from people
portraying to be other Organizations or Yahoo Inc. This is solely to collect
your personal information from you and lay claim over your winning. In event
that you receive any e-mail similar to the notification letter that was sent
to you, Kindly delete it from your mail box and give no further
correspondence to such person or body. YAHOO! shall not be held responsible
for any loss of fund arising from the above mentioned.

Anti-fraud resources: