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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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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/msnlottery incoperation" (no such lottery exists)
  • "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.
  • +447045737271 (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.
  • ymsnlottery2008@rocketmail.com

Fraud email example:

From: YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE <barryhowarth@telstra.com>
Reply-To: ymsnlottery2008@rocketmail.com
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:39:49 +0000
Subject: YOUR EMAIL HAVE WON YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE.




Yahoo/MsnLottery
Incoperation
Baley House, Har Road
Sutton, Greater London
SM1 4te
United Kingdom

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of (£500,000,00) 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 and Hotmail This MONTH 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 on or before your date of Claim, Winners Shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre.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 your Location file,you are requested to contact EVENTS AGENT MANAGER,send your winning identification numbers to them at this contact address below.

(CONTACT EVENTS AGENT MANAGER)
Mr.Williams Mcwright
Email:ymsnlottery2008@rocketmail.com
Tel:+44 7045 737 271


You are therefore advised to send the following information to the EVENTS AGENT to facilitate them and process the COURIER of your Won Prize.

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

Congratulations!! once again.
Yours in service,



MRS CHRISTINA JAMES Dr. Williams Mcwright
(Public Relations Officer.BRITISH EMBASSY) (Lottery Co-ordinator)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam