419 scam: "Mr.Stephen Chew," <mcdonaldspromo@yahoo.com> Re: [THE MC DONALD'S SEASONAL PROMOTION]

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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")
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.
- mcdonalds.promo@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr.Stephen Chew," <mcdonaldspromo@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: mcdonalds.promo@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:43:47 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: [THE MC DONALD'S SEASONAL PROMOTION]

--

WINNERS ONLY
C\ Don Jaime I nº11 2º
50.003 Zaragoza
WORLD WIDE
Ref: EAASL/941OYI/02/SHYN
Batch: 12/25/0034
http://www.mcdonalds.com.my/index.asp

Dear Lucky Winner,

THE MC DONALD'S SEASONAL PROMOTION PRIZE AWARDS WINNING NOTIFICATION.

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual
final draws of Mcdonalds Annual Promo.

The online Mcdonalds KL, Malaysian Annual Promo draws was conducted by a
random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list of 29,031
E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced
automated random computer search from the internet. However, no tickets
were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticket
numbers for representation and privacy.

After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail address emerged as one
of twelve winners in the fourth category for the second prize with the
following data:

Ref Number: EAASL/941OYI/02/SHYN
Batch Number: 12/25/0034
Ticket Number: 025-11464992-750

You as well as the other winners are therefore to receive a cash prize of
£1,350,000 (ONE MILLION THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND BRITISH POUNDS
ONLY) each from the total payout.

Your prize award has been insured with your e-mail address and will be
transferred to you upon meeting the requirements, statutory obligations,
verifications, validations and satisfactory report.

To begin the claims processing of your prize winnings you are advised to
contact our licensed and accredited claims agent/security company
for SECOND category winners with the information below: You are also
advised to give the following informations to the claim's agent via email

1. Full name and address:
2. Country:
3. Tel and fax number:
4.Occupation:
5. Your Reference and Batch number at the top of this mail:
6,Email:
Mr.Stephen Chew,
MCDONALDS PROMO CLAIMS AGENT
Email: mcdonalds.promo@yahoo.com
Phone: +60149671562

NOTE: All winnings must be claimed within 20 days from today. After this
date all unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake.
Remember to quote your reference information in all correspondence with
your claims agent.
You are to keep all lotto information away from the general public
especially your reference and ticket numbers. (This is important as a
case of double claims will not be entertained).

Members of the affiliate agencies are automatically not allowed to
participate in this program.

Thank you and congratulations!!!
Yours faithfully,
Azmir Jaafar,
Managing Director Mcdonalds Malaysia.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam