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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
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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:

• 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")
  • "million united states 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)
  • ",000,000" (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 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.
  • dodaajohnston.fiduagent@googlemail.com

Fraud email example:

From: claim agent <fiduciaryagentjoburg@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:30:50 +0200
Subject: Congratulations


We are happy to inform you that you have won a prize money of Three Million United States Dollars (US$3,000,000) for the month of June 2008 Lottery Win promotion which is organized by YAHOO LOTTERY every month.
YAHOO, collects all the mail identity of the people online and among the millions that log on to the internet we only select five people every Month as our winners through electronic balloting System without the winner applying, we are congratulating you for having been one of the people selected.
PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM
You are to contact your Claims Agent on or before your date of Claim, Winners Shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Cent er. Yahoo
Lottery Prize must be claimed no later than 7 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.....................JHB/1/08 09102
Lotto number.......................JHBLW35447
Winning number...................JHB/SA09788
These numbers are your winning identification numbers, that you will send it to your claims agent,Mr. Johnston Dodaa email address - dodaajohnston.fiduagent@googlemail.com [mailto:dodaajohnston.fiduagent@googlemail.com] for identification and further instructions.
You are therefore advise to send the following information to the Claims Agent to facilitate them and process the transfer of your fund.
1.Full name
2.Contact Address
3.Telephone Number
4.Marital Status
5.Occupation
6.Date of Birth
7.Nationality
Congratulations! ! Once more.
Yours Faithfully,
YAHOO LOTTERY INC.,




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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam