419 scam: "Hafiz Ibrahim"<hafizabrahim@sify.com> ATTN: CONGRATULATION!!!YOUR EMAIL HAS WON THE 2010 SHELL LOTTERY PROMO.

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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:
- "international lottery programme" (no such lottery exists)
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "from: the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims 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.
- hafizibraahm@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Hafiz Ibrahim" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <hafizibraahm@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:30:54 +0100
Subject: ATTN: CONGRATULATION!!!YOUR EMAIL HAS WON THE 2010 SHELL LOTTERY PROMO.

FROM: THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARDS DEPARTMENT SHELL LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL SWEEPSTAKES LOTTERY CORPORATION

REF: 475061725
Batch: 7056490902/188
Winning no: GB8701/LPRC
Date:14th of Jan, 2010.

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are delighted to inform you of your prize which was released on 14th of Jan, 2010. from the Shell International Lottery programmer, which is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses from some sites,was carried out through random selection in Our computerized email selection system (ess) from a database of over 21,000 e-mail addresses drawn from which you were selected.Your email address was attached to:

ticket number; 4700172507056490102
serial number 7741134002.
This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows 5-13-33-37-42 and
bonus number 17,which consequently won the lottery in
the second category.

You hereby have been approved a lump sum pay of US$1.3,000.000
(ONE MILLION THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) in cash credit
file ref: ILP/HW 47509/09 from the total cash prize shared
amongst eight lucky winners in this category.

This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they have an operational base. Furthermore, your details (e-mail address) falls within our African regional office in ACCRA, GHANA as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of US$1.3 MILLION will be released to you from this regional branch office in GHANA, To file for your claim, please contact our director of finance. Contact the claim agent with this information below

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE TO SEND THE BELOW
INFORMATION REQUIRED TO CLAIM YOU’RE WINNING PRIZE:

1. Full Name: .........................
2. Address: ........................
3. Nationality: ....................
4. Age: ........................Date of Birth: ......
5. Occupation: ......................
6. Phone: ..........Fax: ......................
7. State of Origin: .........Country: ................
8. Gender: ......................................
9. DELIVERY OPTIONS

DELIVERY OPTIONS:

(1): BANK SWIFT WIRE TRANSFER
(2): COME TO OUR OFFSHORE PAYMENT CENTER IN GHANA
(3): BY OUR COURIER FIRM,

THE CLAIMS AGENT CONTACT
Name: HAFIZ IBRAHIM
EMAIL: hafizibraahm@gmail.com

Please quote your reference, batch and winning number which can be found on the top left corner of this notification as well as your full name, address and telephone number to help locate your file easily. For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize released to you.

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this program by non-participants or unofficial personnel.

Note: all winnings MUST be claimed before two weeks, otherwise all funds will be returned as unclaimed and eventually donated to charity organizations.

YOURS SINCERELY,
Mr. John William

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam