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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!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• 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 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:
  • "claims 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!
• 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.
  • +447035931712 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "Bob/Ramona Handy" <msltomolerry@live.com>
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 2009 10:30:38 GMT
Subject: Ref:MSN-L-Y/400-46939


Msl Award Team
100 Victoria Street
London
SW1E 5JL United Kingdom.
Batch: 01/05/0440
Ref:MSN-L-Y/400-46939

Hello Winners

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of FIVE HUNDRED
THOUSAND POUNDS (?500,000) for the New Year Edition Lottery promotion
which is organized by YAHOO LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE.YAHOO & MICROSOFT
WINDOWS, collects all the email addresses of the people that are active
online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail 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 with immediate effect to faciliate
the protocol of your winning prized before the date of Claim,Winners Shall be
paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre Prize must be claimed not
later than 14 working 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...................01/05/0440
Ref number.......................MSN-L-Y/400-46939
Winning number...................YM09788
To begin your claim please contact our licensed and accredited agent
assigned to you by responding to this email:

Mr. Thomas Olerry
(VERIFICATION DEPARTMENT MANAGER)
Tel: +44-703-593-1712

You are therefore advised to send the following information to the claims agent
to facilitate them and in order for them to have access in
proceeding with the delivery of your winnings to your address.
1. Full name............
2. Country..............
3. Contact Address........
4. Telephone Number.......
5. Marital Status.........
6. Occupation.............
7. Company..............
8. Age....................

Msn Lottery Prize must be claimed not later than 14 working 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.
Congratulations!! once again.

Yours in service,
Mrs. Handy B Ramona.
Oxford Sweepstakes Co-ordinator.
(Operation Manager)

This email is sent by \"Microsoft Secured Mail Servers\" 7.12
Notification.? 2008 Microsoft International Lottery Programs.
All Rights Reserved.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam