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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:
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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.
• 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.
  • +447031817708 (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.
  • agent.paulmaxwell@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Felicia Hayes" <feliciahayes75@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:39:52 +0800
Subject: YOUR EMAIL WON!!!


Yahoo & Windows Live Awards Center *124 Stockport Road, Long sight,
Manchester M60 2DB - United Kingdom FROM THE OFFICE OF MRS SARAH
HANNS* * * This
is to inform you that you have won a prize money of One Million Great
Britain pounds (GBP1,000, 000.00) for the last quarter 2008 prize promotion
which is organised 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 and few from other
email providers. Three people are selected monthly to benefit from this
promotion and you are of the Select Winners. Winners shall be paid in
accordance with their Settlement Centers. Yahoo Prize Award must be claimed
not later that 14days from date of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed
within this period will be forfeited and returned to it source as unclaimed.


Stated below are your identification numbers. BATCH NUMBER: MFI/06/APA-43658
REFERENCE NUMBER: 2007234522 PIN: 1207 You are requested to contact our
co-ordinator in Manchester and send your winning identification numbers to
him. You are advise only to contact the Co-ordinator on the emails below:

Email: agent.paulmaxwell@yahoo.co.uk<http://us.mc599.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=agent.paulmaxwell@yahoo.co.uk>
Name: Paul Maxwell
Phone: +447031817708

You are advise only to contact on the emails above. You are advised to send
the following information to our co-ordinator to facilitate the release of
your fund to you:
Full names: ........................
Country: ............................
Contact address: ....................
Telephone number: ..................
Fax number: ........................
Marital status: ....................
Occupation: ........................
Sex: ................................
Date of birth: .....................

Yours in Service,

Mrs. Felicia Hayes.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam