419 scam: Mark Harris <collet@cnea.gov.ar> YOUR EARNEST COOPERATION

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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:

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:
- "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- ",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)
- "% will be for you" (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)
- "deadline" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
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!

Fraud email example:

From: Mark Harris <collet@cnea.gov.ar>
Reply-To: <mark_harris_2013@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 16:43:51 -0700
Subject: YOUR EARNEST COOPERATION

Hello!,

Good day to you. I am Mark Harris. I work with National Lottery
Commission and Camelot Group PLC, "the official monitoring body and the
operator of the UK National Lottery". Please you can read about me in my
company`s work profile link below:

http://www.natlotcomm.gov.uk/about-the-national-lottery-commission/senior-management-team.html

I have a lottery prize proposal for you which will be of our mutual
benefit. I wish to seek your cooperation so that the total sum of
Â£1,000,000 (One Million Great Britain Pounds) can be paid to you by the
National Lottery for our mutual benefit. The said prize money is an
unclaimed lottery prize from the National Lottery. The prize result was
released over four month ago and since then, the winner of the prize has
failed to come with the winning lottery ticket or proof of winning to
claim the prize.
I want to front you as the winner of the prize because there is a claim
deadline of 180 days for the claim of this prize. The prize will be
forfeited and used as good cause fund if not claimed before the
deadline. The below BBC news web links contain evidence of forfeited
unclaimed prizes that happened in the past.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/4573760.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-18550580

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-18766367

The reasons why some winners fail to claim their prizes may be one or
all of the following:

1. The winner may have accidentally thrown away the tickets and lost
track of the winning ticket number and other vital information as
regards the lucky win.

2. Some winners do not check their tickets properly.

3 The winner may not be aware of the victory.

4. The National Lottery does not advice winners about their winning
prize via email notification that is why some may not be aware that they
won in the draws.

I hereby seek your consent to cooperate with me so that I can provide
you the winning information that won the prize funds of Â£1,000,000 to
enable you apply for the claim of the funds as the winner. Once the
funds is paid to you, Our mode of sharing will be on a 50......... 50
basis. i.e. 50% will be for me while the remaining 50% will be for you.
This project is 100% risk free because it will be executed under a
legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law
as I have mapped out all plans to ensure we claim this fund without any
trace in the future.

All I require from you is your honesty, confidentiality, trust,
sincerity and dedication to make this goal a dream come through. The
winner of the prize has failed to come for the claim and there is total
assurance that he/she will not come for it because every vigilant winner
will be anxious to know the outcome of a lottery draw even before the
results are released.

I look forward to your quick response while thanking you for your
anticipated co-operation.

Best regards,
Mark Harris.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam