419 scam: "MSN-ANNUAL CENTRE"<info@prize.co.uk> Congratulations! MSN-Annual Award Winner 2010!!!

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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 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)
- "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)
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.
- +447045715633 (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.
- msn.support008@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "MSN-ANNUAL CENTRE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <msn.support008@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2010 13:43:17 +0100
Subject: Congratulations! MSN-Annual Award Winner 2010!!!

MSN-ANNUAL AWARD PROMOTION
London WC 1B 4AR United Kingdom.

Ref Code: MSN428A2010
File Number: MN0907

We the MSN MANAGEMENT are pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a winners of our MSN-ANNUAL AWARD PROMOTION conducted here in THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Your e-mail address have just won you an award which was based on electronic e-mail balloting system. In this system of e-mail balloting, we have
computerised lucky numbers, and if any e-mail happens to fall among the computerised lucky numbers, the e-mail user is a winner of 500,000.00 GBP. All participants in this Award promotion were selected randomly through our MSN Computer Ballot System, drawn from 65,000,000 email addresses from all search engines.

This promotional program takes place annually, and is promoted and sponsored by MSN Company, eminent personalities of hotmail and msn users, with the support of British/European corporate companies and organizations to encourage the use of Internet and computers worldwide. You are to keep your Ref. number and File number from the public, until you have received your cash prize. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and the act of scamming/hacking people of their Ref. number and prizes.

Send your complete personal information as requested below with your Reference Code and File Number to the coordinator (Dr. Ben Carter), inorder to enable him process your claim;

(1) Full Name
(2) Nationality
(3) Contact Address
(4) Home/Moblie Phone
(5) Date Of Birth
(6) Occupation
(7) Sex
(8) Reference and File numbers

Coordinator:Mr.Ben Carter
Email:msn.support008@gmail.com
Tel: +4470457 15633, +4470457 15633
Fax: +448704956127

Note that all prize money must be claimed not later than one month of notification. All funds not Claimed on or before the fixed date will be returned as
Unclaimed Prize. Please do not reply if you are NOT the owner of this winning email address.

Yours Sincerely,
MSN Management.
============================================================================================================================================================
=============================================================================================================================================================
NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, Please remember to quote your Reference and File numbers in all correspondences with the award
coordinator.

©2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam