419 scam: "YAHOO! & MICROSOFT WINDOWS LOTTERY AWARD" <mrs.mariammorshedi1@hotmail.com> RESULT: PAYMENT OF PRIZE!.

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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:
- "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")
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.
- re.johnwilliam@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "YAHOO! & MICROSOFT WINDOWS LOTTERY AWARD" <mrs.mariammorshedi1@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <re.johnwilliam@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:27:54 +0100
Subject: RESULT: PAYMENT OF PRIZE!.

YAHOO! MAIL.
Your Yahoo! AWARD!.

This is to inform you that you have won prize money of FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND BRITISH POUNDS (€450,000.00 GBP) for the YEAR 2011 Lottery promotion, which is organized by YAHOO LOTTERY INC for the introduction of the new YAHOO BETA's MAIL, which all YAHOO users are required to switch onto.

YAHOO! & MICROSOFT WINDOWS, arranged and gathered all the e-mail addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to ALL email Addresses and others. We only select Nine(9) candidates annually as our winners through Electronic Balloting System (EBS) without the candidates applying for it, we congratulate you for being one of the people selected.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM

Your Payment Approval File was sent to African and European continent only due to the fact that more winners emerged from their.You are to contact our Location Claim Agent on or before your date of Claim.

Yahoo Beta Lottery Prize must be claimed not later than 21 days from date of Draw Notification after the Draw date in which Prize has won unless otherwise.

Note: Any prize not claimed within this period (21days) will be forfeited unless where necessary.

These are your identification numbers:

Stake number.....................YBM-EBS-360AF
verification/Ref number............YBM-EBS-710AF
Winning number...............YBM-EBS-718AF

Please note that you are not authorized to contact the email sender back rather you are to contact the claiming agent below.

These numbers above fall within the agent’s Location file, you are requested to contact your Agent and send your Identification Numbers and Personal Information to him.

REV. JOHN WILLIAM at his email:

E-mail: re.johnwilliam@hotmail.com

You are therefore advised to send the following information to him to enable him facilitate the process of 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. Occupation................
6. Age.......................
7. Sex.......................

Congratulations once again.
Yours in service.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam