419 scam: "Shell Petroleum Development Co." <admin@vps.com> You have won $845,000.00

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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary 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.
- claim.spdc@yahoo.com (Yahoo; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "Shell Petroleum Development Co." <admin@vps.com>
Reply-To: winner@spdcprizeaward.com
Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2015 13:25:52 +0900
Subject: You have won $845,000.00

Shell Petroleum Development Company
P.O. Box 2463, Houston, TX 77252
(Shell Oil Company)
Tel. +13018305443
BATCH REF: March/008-3344/2015

Dear Winner,
REFERENCE NUMBER: ( SPDC-081511 )

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Eight Hundred
and Forty Five Thousand United
States Dollar ($845,000.00) for the 2015 International E-mail Draw which
is Organized by Shell Petroleum
Development Company (SPDC). Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)
collects all the email
addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that
subscribed to Yahoo, Aol, Walla,
Gmail, Russian Mail and Hotmail and few from other e-mail providers. Six
people are selected yearly to
benefit from this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM

Winners shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre. Shell
Award must be claimed not later
than 15 days from date of Draw Notification. Any Prize not claimed within
this period will be forfeited.
Stated below is your identification number: REFERENCE NUMBER: ( SPDC-081511 )

This numbers fall within the Asia Location file, you are requested to
contact our fiduciary agent in
Bangkok Thailand to redeem your prize. Send your winning identification
numbers to our fiduciary agent to his
information below.

Name: Suchart Mongkut
E-Mail: winner@spdcprizeaward.com
claim.spdc@yahoo.com

He will immediately commence the process that will facilitate the release
of your fund to you.

Congratulations!! once again.

Yours in service,
Dr. Ascot Almanzo
[Publicity Secretary]

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam