419 scam: "Mr. Chong frank"<mrchongfrank1@gmail.com> Urgent Reply Needed

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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million united states 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)
- "million us 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)
- ",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 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.
- chong.frank@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Chong frank" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrchongfrank@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 02:29:50 +0800
Subject: Urgent Reply Needed

MALAYSIA INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY
PRIZE RELEASE CENTRE
SURIA KLCC 4.12 FLOOR 96,
50450 JALAN AMPANG,
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA.

Attn: Winner,

MALAYSIA INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY AWARD
We happily announce to you the draw of the Malaysia International celebration lottery Award an International program held in Malaysia. Your E-mail address attached to ticket, Ticket No: 34-50-01-25-10, Reference No:TUR/1611/77/07,Batch No:73/7112/EsD,and Serial No: 14-83-43-44-08, that was held on the 1st May 2010. This was randomly selected by our central computer system, subsequently your lottery award is in the 2nd category.Your name have therefore been short-listed to claim a total sum of US$1,000,000.00 (One Million United States Dollars) in cash. This is from a total cash prize of US$120,000,000 Million US dollars, shared amongst the first One Hundred and Twenty(120) lucky winners in this category world-wide.In view of this, your US$1,000,000.00(One Million United States Dollars) will be released to you by our bank. Our principal agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him. All participants were selecte!
d randomly from World Wide tagged

=========================================================
Mr. Chong Frank
TEL: +601-029-56575
Email: chong.frank@yahoo.com.hk
=========================================================
Please provide him with the under listed information,
FULL NAMES:........................................................
CONTACT ADDRESS:...................................................
COUNTRY:...........................................................
NATIONALITY:.......................................................
ZIPCODE:...........................................................
SEX:...................................... AGE:....................
TEL NO:............................................................
EMAIL ADDRESS:.....................................................
OCCUPATION:........................................................
REFERENCE NO:......................................................
BATCH NO:..........................................................
TICKET NO:.........................................................
PROMOTION DATE:....................................................
SERIAL NO..........................................................

If you do not contact your claims agent within 5 working days of this notification,your winnings would be revoked.
Accept my hearty congratulations once again!

Sincerely yours,
Mrs. Matina Cole.
Winning Co -ordinator.
N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to Disqualification.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam