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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:

Fraud email example:

From: Yahoo Team <jen_martinez_24@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: costumer.care42@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2011 19:05:35 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: VERIFY YOUR FREE YAHOO ACCOUNT NOW !!!






Account Alert







                                   VERIFY YOUR FREE YAHOO ACCOUNT NOW !!!
 

Dear Yahoo Customer,
 
 
This Email is from yahoo Customer Care and we are sending it to every yahoo Email
User Accounts Owner for safety. we are having congestions due to the anonymous registration of yahoo accounts so we are shutting down some yahoo accounts and your account was among those to be deleted. We are sending this email to you so that you can verify and let us know if you still want to use this account. If you are still interested please confirm your account by filling the space below.Your User name, password, date of birth and your country information would be needed to verify your account.
Due to the congestion in all Hotmail users and removal of all unused yahoo Accounts, yahoo would be shutting down all unused Accounts, You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Information below after clicking the reply button, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.
 
* Username: ..............................
* Password: ................................
* Date of Birth: .............................
* Country Or Territory: ................
 
After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconveniences.
Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after two weeks of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.
 
Sincerely,
Yahoo Team


 
Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account before two weeks of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.

Anti-fraud resources: