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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: "awardcenter Gazeta.pl" <awardcenter@gazeta.pl>
Reply-To: kelvin_brownstone@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:34:50 -0700
Subject: VERY CONFIDENTIAL,YOUR'S IS 650,000.00 POUNDS STARLINGS PIN 1206


*FROM: THE DESK OF THE MANAGEMENT*
** *Yahoo Awards Center
124 Stockport Road, Longsight
Manchester M60 2DB
United Kingdom

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Six Hundred and
Fifty Thousand Great Britain Pounds (GBP650,000.00) for the month of
MAY, 2008 Prize promotion which is organized by YAHOO AWARDS &
WINDOWS LIVE.YAHOO collects all the email addresses of the people that are
active online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and
Hotmail<http://www.hotmail.com/>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 no 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: MFI/06/APA-43658
REFERENCE NUMBER: 2006234522
PIN: 1206

These numbers fall within the England Location file, you are requested to
contact our fiduciary agent in Manchester and send your winning so that we *
** *can sought your Deposited bank.*
** **
** *HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE;
You are advised to send the following information to your Claims Agent to*
** *facilitate the release of your fund to you.*
** *

Agent Name: Rev. Kelvin Brownstone
E-Mail: kelvin_brownstone@yahoo.com<http://us.mc505.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=kelvin_brownstone@yahoo.com>
*
** *

1. Full name...............................
2. Country..................................
3. Contact Address.....................
4. Telephone Number.................
5. fax Number............................
5. Marital Status.........................
6. Occupation.............................
7. My Date of birth......................
7. Sex.................................
Congratulations!! once again.
Yours in service,

Dr. (Mrs.) Edith
Barth----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
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 potraying 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.
*


* * * *
*Yours Sincerely,*
*Dr {Mrs}Edith Barth *
*
*
<http://mail.yahoo.com/config/login?/xx_javascript:ol%28%27http://mail.yahoo.com/config/login?/xx__javascript:olhttp://www.freelotto.com/offer.asp?offer%253d43761%2526amp;FID%253dfa7d27913658;%27%29;>
**
*Dr. P. Swier, Mr. Gerald Goodman (Manager Foreign Operations), Mr. Franklyn
Van Der Weijden (Manager Domestic Banking Operations), Dr. James Williams
(Director International Credit Department), Mrs. Sandra Murphy (Executive
Director African Regional office), Mr. Michael Cole Mr. Stephen Boer
(Chairman board of trustees).*

Anti-fraud resources: