419 scam: YAHOO/MICROSOFT ONLINE PROMO <office----2112@att.net> RE:YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HAS WON YOU GBPOUND 850,000.00

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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.
This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "microsoft lottery" (no such lottery exists)
- "yahoo/msn lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
- "yahoo/msn lottery" (no such lottery exists)
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!
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.
- davhughuk@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: YAHOO/MICROSOFT ONLINE PROMO <office----2112@att.net>
Reply-To: davhughuk@aim.com
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 14:07:14 -0800 (PST)
Subject: RE:YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HAS WON YOU GBPOUND 850,000.00

YAHOO/MICROSOFT LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE ONLINE

INTERNATIONAL AWARD NOTIFICATION DEPARTMENT

NEW CASTE,UNITED KINGDOM.

Attention winner

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Eight Hundred & Fifty Thousand Great British Pounds Sterling(GBP850,000,00) for the last quater of 2010 online Lottery promotion which is organized by YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC.

WINDOWS LIVE YAHOO/MSN MICROSOFT WINDOWS, collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among

the millions that subscribed to Yahoo,Hotmail and other internet explorer users.we only select five people every quater of the year as our winners through electronic balloting System without the winners applying,we congratulate you for being one of the people selected.

This online promotion is aimed at encouraging internet users world-wide.

You are to contact our international fiduary agent/consulting firm.

these are your identification numbers:

Batch Number: YPB/08/APA-43658

Reference Number: YPN560992008

Award File Security code: UK/+ QU34005

However you will have to fill and submit this verification form to our appointed fiduciary/consulting firm and adhere

strictly with all their instructions:

1.Full name:...................................................

2.Contact:.....................................................

3.Age:.........................................................

4.Telephone:...................................................

5.Sex:.........................................................

6.Occupation:..................................................

7.State:.......................................................

8.Country:....................................................

9.Next-of-kin:................................................

9.Your Reference and Batch number at the top of this mail

Please send your reply to the email address below:

davhughuk@aim.com

Mr David Hughes (Claim Officer)

Equity Consultancy Services UK

Tel/Fax: 0044 - 7024072125

E-mail: davhughuk@aim.com

The above fiduciary agent/consulting firm will assist you in the processing and remittance of your winning prize (funds) to you. Also note that you are to contact and process your winning prize not later than twenty-one days, AFTER this date if you do not contact and process your winning prize, all funds will be returned to the lottery board trust board as unclaimed.

***Due to possible mix up of some numbers and email contacts, we ask that you keep this award strictly from public notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted.

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by some participants of this program. ***

Yours faithfully,

Mrs. Maria Jones.

Lottery Coordinator.

=============================================================

This message is CONFIDENTIAL. It may also be privileged or otherwise

protected by work product immunity or other legal rules. If you have

received it please let us know by replying it from your system, you

should not copy it or disclose its contents to anyone.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam