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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
  
  
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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 lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "hundred thousand us 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)
  • "00,000.00" (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)
  • "u.k " (this email uses bad English)
  • "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
  • "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
• 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!
• Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
• 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.
  • +447045774993 (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.
  • bargeorgeb@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <bargeorgeb@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 03:55:29 +0000
Subject: CONGRATULATION YOU HAVE WON THE YAHOO SEASONAL PROMO





































CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! YAHOO
LOTTERY
INTERNATIONAL


This is to inform you that you have won a
prize
money of TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND US DOLLARS ($200,000.00)
for the YEAR 2008 Lottery promotion which is organized by YAHOO
LOTTERY INC for the introduction of the new YAHOO BETA
MAIL which all YAHOO
users are required to switch onto.
YAHOO! & MICROSOFT WINDOWS, arrange and
gather all the e-mail
addresses of the people that are active online, among the
millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail, and
others we only select FIVE (5) candidates per annually as our winners through
Electronic Balloting System (EBS) without the candidate applying, we
congratulate you for being one of the people
selected.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND
CLAIM

We are sorry that your Payment
Approval File was sent to
AFRICAN due to we have 3 lucky winners in AFRICAN so that you can be cleared and
paid simultaneously there. You are to contact our U.K Location Claim Agent on or
before your date of Claim.

Yahoo
Beta Lottery Prize must be claimed not later than 14 days from date of Draw
Notification after the Draw date in which Prize has won.

Note: Any prize not claimed within this
period (14 days) will be forfeited.

These are your
identification numbers:



IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS:
Batch
number.....................YBM-EBS-390AF
Reff
number........................YBM-EBS-719AF
Winning
number...............YBM-EBS-798AF




To claim your prize money,you
are required to contact BARR GEORGE BROWN with your Batch
number,Reff number,Winning number through his email below.

BARRISTER GEORGE BROWN AT HIS
E-MAIL: bargeorgeb@hotmail.com
CONTACT PHONE:
+447045774993

You are therefore advised to
send the following information to him to facilitate them and process the
transfer of your fund with the appointed paying bank.

Send your Identification
Numbers/Your Personal Information to him immediately:

Personal
Information
1. Full
name..................
2. Country....................

3. Contact Address...........
4. Telephone Number.........
5.
Marital Status..............
6. Occupation..................
7.
Age.........................
8.
Sex.........................

Congratulations once again.
Yours in service,







We
hope you're enjoying your new
Yahoo! Mail account.
Now take the next
step and claim your money and say thanks to Yahoo!.
You select how to transfer the prize money
to you:




Cheque Delivery To Your
Address


Bank Account
Transfer

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam