419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "microsoft lottery" (no such lottery exists)
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand great british pounds" (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)
- ",500,000" (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)
- "u.k " (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.
- +447031931254 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
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.
- paulellesagentteam@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
- paulelles.team@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: microsoft team <mic.softpromteam35@msn.com>
Reply-To: <paulellesagentteam@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:04:24 +0000
Subject: CONGRATULATION YOUR E MAIL HAS MADE YOU RICH !!! CONTACT AGENT: +
44 703-193-1254

Address 20 Park, Harlesden London NW15
United
Kingdom
Ticket number====== 20511465463-7644

Serial number ======S/N-00168
Lucky number
======14-21-25-39-40-47(20)
Winning code number:
(19000)

CONGRATULATION YOU HAVE WON GBP£ 1.5M
POUNDS

Dear Lucky Winner

We write to inform you that Microsoft and Aol has set out and sucessfully
organised a Sweepstakes marking
the year 2009 anniversary we rolled out over GBP£7,500 000 00 for our new year
Anniversary Draws. Participants for the draws were randomly selected and drawn
from a wide range of web hosts which we enjoy their patronage.

The selection was made
through a computer draw system attaching personalised email addresses to ticket
numbers. If you ignore this, you will regret it later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet
companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most
widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta
test.

Your email address as
indicated was drawn and attached to Ticket number======20511465463-7644 with Serial number ======S/N-00168 and drew the Lucky number =====14-21-25-39-40-47(20)
which subsequently won you GBP£1,500,000.00 (One Million Five Hundred Thousand Great
Britain Pounds) as one of the 5 jackpot winners in this draw. You
have therefore won the entire winning sum of GBP£ 1,500,000.00 (One Million
Five Hundred Thousand Great Britain
Pounds) The draws registered as Draw number one was conducted in Brockley, London
United Kingdom on this 2009. These Draws are commemorative and as
such special.

You have therefore been approved
for a lump sum pay out of GBP£ 1,500.000.00 (One Million Five Hundred Thousand
Great British Pounds) in cash, which is the winning
payout for Second category winners. This is from the
total prize money of GBP£ 7,500 000 00 (Seven million Five Hundred Thousand
Great Britain Pounds) shared among the Five Winners in
the First category.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Your
winnings should be claimed from our paying .Graphic Trust Delivery Secrvice U.K
. As we have notified them. Due to the mix-up that may arise from emails of
winners and numbers we ask that you keep this award strictly from public notice
until your claim has been processed and your money remitted to you. This is part
of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by
participants of this program.

We
hope with a part of your prize, you will participate in our new year (2009) high
stakes GBP £7,500 000 00 (Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand Great British
Pounds). To begin your claim, please contact immediately, our paying agent who
also will be you claims agent:
To file for your claim, please contact your
Claiming Agent immediately.

Mr. Paul Elles
Client Manager
GRAPHIC TRUST DELIVERY
SERVICES
(Event Manager & Consultants)
Tel: + 44 703 193 1254
Fax:
+ 44 870 471 7855
EMAIL: paulellesagentteam@gmail.com
or paulelles.team@gmail.com

For
due processing and remittance of your prize money, remember you must contact
your claim manager not
later than two weeks. Otherwise all funds will be returned as unclaimed. And,
should there be any change in your email address, do inform your claims manager
as soon as possible.

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, please remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in
every of your correspondences with your claims agent.

Please provide the
following details for processing of your claim.

VERIFICATION FORM

1,FULL NAME
:

2, FULL ADDRESS:

3, NATIONALITY:

4, SEX:

5, AGE:

6,
PHONE/MOBILE:

7,
FAX:

8,
OCCUPATION:

9,
COMPANY:...N/A:

10, AMOUNT WON:

11, LUCKY
NUMBER:

12, TICKET NUMBER:

13, SERIAL NUMBER:

14, WINNING
CODE:

MICROSOFT
LOTTERY PROMOTION FORM

Once
again we say congratulation and thanks for being part of our Promotions program.

Yours sincerely,
Mrs. Rosa Diana
Promotion manager
Microsoft windows Explorers
Company
Online Co-coordinator for Microsoft Award Team
Uk &
Europe

N.B.This is a computer-generated message. Please do not
reply to this mail since we will be unable to answer. Contact your Claims
Manager by Email, Fax or Phone immediately. Anybody below the age of 18 is
automatically disqualified.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam