419 scam: "RONA" YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HAS WON THE 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:

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:
- "japan international lottery" (no such lottery exists)
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "million united state 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)
- "hundred thousand united state 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)
- "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)
- "united state dollar" (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!

Fraud email example:

From: "RONA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <rona_lam@yahoo.cn>
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 03:40:55 +0800
Subject: YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HAS WON THE PROMOTION

THE JAPAN LOTTERY PROMOTION
PROMOTION/PRIZE 2009
AWARD DEPT. YAGASHI MAO
AVENUE 65 DIPLOMAT ROAD,
ORTIGAS BUILDING JAPAN

PROMOTION OFFICIAL PRIZE NOTIFICATION

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual final draws of the Japan International Lottery Worldwide Promotion, your email was among the 20 Lucky winners who won $500,000.00(Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars) each on the Japan Lottery Promotion dated as stated above.This is from the total price of $10 million United State Dollars shared among the 20 lucky winners you are therefore approved for a lump payment of $500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars) However the results were released today and your email attached to ticket number (343-221-8756) and ballot serial number (454-17) was among the winners.The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list of 290,600 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 ticke
t numbers for representation and

NAME:.....................................
AGE:.........................................
SEX:.........................................
ADDRESS:(RESIDENT ADDRESS ONLY)...............................
EMAIL:....................................
PHONE:....................................
OCCUPATION:.........................
AMOUNT WON.........................
COUNTRY:...............................

Please be advised to complete the form and send it immediately to our Promotion manager through email for prompt collection of your fund .

(CONTACT PROMOTION AGENT)
NAME: RONA LAM
EMAIL: rona_lam@yahoo.cn

You are to keep all the lotto information away from the general public,especially your ticket number and ballot number..(this is important as a case of double claiming will not be entertained)
*Staff of Japanese International Lottery Company are not allowed
to partake in this Lottery. Accept my heartly congratulations once again!

Yours faithfully,

DIANA SMITH
FINANCE VICE PRESIDENT

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam