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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:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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!

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:07:20 +0200
Subject: You won $820,000.00! Yahoo! Mail congratulates you!


You won $820,000.00! Yahoo! Mail congratulates you!=C2=A0=20
YAHOO INTERNET LOTTERY

CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU WON $820,000.00!=C2=A0

Yahoo! Mail gives members random cash prizes. Today, your account is rand=
omly selected as the one of 12 top winners accounts who will get cash pri=
zes from us. We are happy to inform you that you have won a prize money o=
f (Eight Hundred And twenty Thousand US Dollars) ($820,000.00) for the=C2=
=A0 month of May Lottery win promotion which is organized by yahoo.messen=
ger and window live.com every month.
=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=
=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=20
YAHOO and WINDOW LIVE! collects all the mail id of the people that are on=
line, among the millions that subscribe to the world email we only select=
five people every month as our winners through electronic balloting Syst=
em without the winner applying,we are=C2=A0 congratulating you for been o=
ne of the people selected.All participant were selected through a compute=
r balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from=
Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and =
Oceania as part of our international promotions program which is conducte=
d annually.

This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomorate of some multina=
tional companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens i=
n the
commmunities where they have operational base. Further more your details(=
e-mail address) falls within our Spanish representative office in GHANA, =
as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of $820,000.00 USD will b=
e released to you from this regional branch office in GHANA,
HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE
These are your identification numbers.........
Batch number....................Lwh 09445
Lotto number.....................Lwh09446
Winning number................Lwh09447
Serial number....................Lwh009482
To begin your claims, kindly contact the Fiduciary Agent Mr. Johnson Wort=
ford of YAHOO/WINDOWS LIVE LOTTERY BOARD GHANA on email address: johnsonw=
ortford@live.com=C2=A0 Tel: +233 248 973810. You are required to forward =
Them with the following details:

1.FULL NAME=C2=A0=20
2.COUNTRY OF ORIGIN-
3.PRESENT ADDRESS-
4.SEX- FEMALE
5.DATE OF BIRTH-
6.AGE-
7.OCCUPATION-
8.TELEPHONE NUMBERS/CELL-
9.FAX NUMBER(IF ANY)
10.MARITAL STATUS-
11.WINNING NUMBER, BATCH NUMBER AND LOTTO NUMBER.Lwh09447,Lwh09445,Lwh094=
46
12 THE MONTH YOU WON May.................
13 AMOUNT WON..$820,000.00...................

As soon as you contact your agent, he will advise you on what to do in or=
der to get your prize money. Congratulations once more!!

For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information conf=
idential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize rel=
eased to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claim=
ing and unwarranted taking advantage of this programme by non-participant=
or unofficial personnel.

Yours Sincerely,
=C2=A0
Dr. Barry Knight (PHD)=C2=A0=20
LOTTO CO-ORDINATOR.
The Yahoo.com staff
http://www.yahoo.com

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam