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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:
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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/msn lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
  • "yahoo/msn lottery" (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)
• 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.
  • +447031800359 (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.
  • revpauadams@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr Hendrick Rudolph" <yahoolottoo@gazeta.pl>
Reply-To: revpauadams@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2008 15:38:03 -0700
Subject: *****Congratulation from Yahoo & Msn Lottery******


Yahoo/Msn Lottery
Incoperation
Baley House, Har Road
Sutton, Greater London
SM1 4te
United Kingdom
+447031800359


This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of(£500,000)FIVE
HUNDRED THOUSAND GREAT BRITAIN POUNDS STERLINGS for the month of June
2008 Lottery promotion which is organized by YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC &
WINDOWS LIVE.

YAHOO&MSN MICROSOFT WINDOWS, collects all the email addresses of the
people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to
Yahoo,Hotmail and others.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 our African regional
Claims Agent in Nigeria. Winners Shall be paid in accordance with
his/her Settlement Center.Yahoo/Msn Lottery Prize must be claimed no
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.....................YM 09102XN
Reff number.......................YM35447XN
Winning number...................YM09788


These numbers fall within our African payment center (Nigeria),You are
requested to contact the payment agent,send your winning
identification numbers to him
at this contact address below to enable him process your winning
urgently.

Contact Person: Rev Paul Adams
Email:(revpauadams@gmail.com)you are therefore advised to
send the following information to him to facilitate them and process
the COURIER of your money.

NAME:.................................
AGE:..................................
SEX:..................................
ADDRESS:..............................
EMAIL:................................
PHONE:................................
OCCUPATION:...........................
COMPANY:..............................
NEXT OF KIN...........................
STATE.................................
COUNTRY:..............................
NATIONALITY...........................

Congratulations once again.
Yours in service,
Mr Hendrick Rudolph (Lottery Co-ordinator)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam