419 scam: "Yahoo!"<joey.leighton@yahoo.com> 2009 Yahoo! Prize Winner!

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million united states 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)
- ",000,000" (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)
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 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.
- mark.peter@winning.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Yahoo!" (may be fake)
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:01:20 -0800
Subject: 2009 Yahoo! Prize Winner!

Yahoo! Inc.
Customer Care
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
USA.
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of One Million (US$1,000,000.00) in the YEAR 2009/2010 YAHOO! Lottery promotion which is organized by YAHOO! LOTTERY INC for the introduction and Launching of the New YAHOO! BETA MAILS which all YAHOO! Subscribers are required to switch to.
YAHOO! & MICROSOFT WINDOWS, arranged and gathered all the e-mail addresses of the people that are active online, among the Millions that subscribe at YAHOO!, HOTMAIL and others we only selected THREE candidates as our winners after undergoing the random selection process through Electronic Balloting System (E.B.S) without the candidate applying, we congratulate you for being one of the people selected.
PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM
You are to contact the Claim Agent Rev. Fr. Gary James who will issue you a clearance paper as a winning certificate approved and certified from our Regional office in London, and your prize money will be released to you from any of our regional promotion banks as directed by the claim agent.
YAHOO! Beta Lottery Prize must be claimed not later than 14 days from date of Draw Notification in which Prize has been won.
Note: (Any prize not claimed within this period 15 days) will be forfeited.
IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS:

Batch number.....................YBM-EBS-390AF
Ref number..........................YBM-EBS-719AF
Winning number...............YBM-EBS-798AF
Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European Regional booklet representative office in London as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your (One Million United States Dollars) will be released to you by our payment Regional offices in EUROPEAN PAYMENT CENTER Precisely London.
CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT HERE
Our European Fiduciary Claims Agent:
Rev. Fr. Mark Peter
Official Email: mark.peter@winning.com
Enjoy Online Lottery

YAHOO! MAIL BETA LOTTERY APPROVED
Send your Identification Numbers/Your Personal Information to him so that he will proceed further for your prize claim immediately:
PERSONAL INFORMATION

1. Full Name:.......................................
2. Nationality/Religion:.............................
3. Contact Address:..................................
4. Telephone Number:.............................
5. Fax Number:.......................................
6. Da te of Birth:.......................................
7. Occupation...........................................
8. Age....................................................
9. Sex..............................................
10. Alternative E-mail address:.................
11. Next of Kin of the Beneficiary in case...........

You are advised to keep your winning information confidential to avoid double claim and abuse of the program until your prize is paid to you.
We hope you're enjoying your new Yahoo! Mail account. Now take the next step and claim your money and say thanks to Yahoo!
This prize will be released to you from any of our promotional banks as will be directed by the London Claim/verification agent.
Yahoo! UK & Ireland
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo Inc! All rights reserved

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam