419 scam: "Paul Smith" <prizenotification@mail.ru> Congratulation Office,you've won a 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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million united states dollars" (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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "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)
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
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.
- +27789867079 (South Africa, prepaid mobile phone)
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.
- powerballpromo@bk.ru (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Paul Smith" <prizenotification@mail.ru>
Reply-To: "Paul Smith" <prizenotification@bk.ru>
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2012 14:54:12 -0800
Subject: Congratulation Office,you've won a prize!

INTERNATIONAL POWERBALL LOTTO AWARD
REFERENCE Nº:SAPLA0031894/2012
TICKET Nº:AZ916788424622
BATCH Nº:56741159
ATTN:Office

The South African International Powerball Lottery Program wishes to inform you that your name and email won in the collective E-mail address ballot lottery by the SA International Lottery Program held in Johannesburg on the 29th of February for the year 2012. Your email ID is among the jackpot lucky winners for the sum of $1,000,000.00 (ONE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS) for this month_s Prize Award which was organize by the International Power Ball Promotion Inc.
Your email address was successful in the Category A draw and won the lucky numbers 6, 16,20,31,40, and the Powerball No. 8. Participants were selected through a computerized ballot system drawn from corporate and individual email addresses.
We advice that you keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid unwarranted abuse of this program. For the release of your winnings, kindly contact your claims agent with the following details to expedite the processing of your prize winning.
1. Full name and address:
2. Nationality:
3. Cell number:
4. Sex:
5. E-mail:
6. Amount won
7. Reference no and ticket no:
You are advice to contact our Claim Department immediately for the claim of your winning prize on the following details:
Name: Mr. Anthony Ryan
E-mail: powerballpromo@bk.ru
Telephone: +27 789 867 079
All winning must be claimed not later than 90 days from the date of receipt of this email. After this date all prizes will be treated as Unclaimed.In order to avoid unnecessary delays; remember to quote your Reference and ticket numbers in all correspondence. Congratulations once again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our special quarterly promotional Lottery program.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Paul Smith
SA Information and Promotion Manager

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warning: For security reasons your winning information is not to be disclosed until your prize is successfully handed over to you. You may also receive similar messages from people portraying to be our Organization or other Organizations. This is solely to collect your personal information from you and lay claim over your winnings. In the event that you receive any thing similar to the notification letter that was sent to you kindly delete it and give no further correspondence to such organization or body. Winners must be 18 years and above to claim prize. International power ball lottery organization (SA) Copy right © 2011

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam