419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "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 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.
- +447035919357 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
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.
- agentalexhopkin39@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: MICROSOFT LOTTRY 2014 AWARD <carojo2@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <agentalexhopkin39@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 02:59:09 -0700
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE WON 800,000POUNDS ON YAHOO MICROSOFT
LOTTERY AWARD 2014?

MICROSOFT YAHOO INTERNET LOTTERY INC.

10 Ebury Bridge Rd

Victoria

United Kingdom

Tel: +447035919357

MICROSOFT, YAHOO! AWARD NOTICE!!

YOU WON ? 800,000.00 BRITISH POUNDS ON THE LOTTERY AWARD 2014.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

MICROSOFT, YAHOO! gives out monthly random cash prizes to all Microsoft

Windows' users,your e-mail address was selected among the lucky winners of the

draw played this month. Yahoo, hotmail and gmail in collaboration with

Microsoft Corporation are glad to inform you today that your e-mail account was

randomly selected as one of the "17" Lucky winners who will get a cash prize of

? 800.000.00 BRITISH POUNDS in this year draw.

This is an international Human Support promotional award sponsored by Bill

Gates, Microsoft. Human Support is part of our social responsibility to the

citizens and Multitude of subscribers in our Network. Bill Gates earns US$250

every SECOND, that's about US$20 Million a DAY and US$7.8 Billion a YEAR! He

can donate US$15 to everyone on earth but still be left with US$ 5 Million for

his pocket money. All 17 lucky Winners were selected through a computer

balloting system drawn from 1 million E-mail addresses extracted from all the

(Continents) Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East,

Africa and Oceania conducted monthly.

CONGRATULATIONS ONCE MORE!!

INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE ***

Contact Email: agentalexhopkin39@gmail.com

Contact Bar .Alex Hopkins By Providing the Details and Contact the Claims

Agent.

*** Contact Person: Bar.Alex Hopkins ***

*** Email: agentalexhopkin39@gmail.com***

*** Claims agent Tel: +447035919357***

i. Name in full..........................

ii Sex...................

ii. Date of Birth........................ ....

iii. Telephone............................

iv.Country:................... ........

v. Occupation................. .........

vi. Address...........................

Your Ref #: YaMs-3244285.

Winning Numbers: GB892211528.

Send your details to your claims agent Bar.Alex Hopkins(agentalexhopkin39@gmai

l.com
)

Telephone: +447035919357

Note that you are advised to forward the above details to the claims office.

As soon as you contact the claims office, the Claims Agent (Bar.Alex Hopkins)

will immediately commence the claims processes by given you the online

Procedures and Directives for the processing and transfer of your prize Money

to you. For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information

Strictly confidential from the public until your Fund is processed and

transferred to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double

claiming.

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs. Carol Jones

Information and Programme Coordinator,The Yahoo Inc. Staff.....

Copyright © 2014 Yahoo! Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam