419 scam: Harvey <OGM2V@hscmail.mcc.virginia.edu> MICROSOFT EMAIL AWARD PROMOTION UNITED STATE OF AMERICA

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:

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:
- "to your nominated bank account" (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 of america" (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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: mr.johnharv@live.com
Date: Thu, 13 May 2010 07:22:59 -0700
Subject: MICROSOFT EMAIL AWARD PROMOTION UNITED STATE OF AMERICA

Attn:,

My name is Mr. John Harvey, an American diplomat working under the United Nations. This is to inform you that online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list of 29,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet. This is to encourage our prominent Microsoft Internet Explorer users all over the world, and for the Continues use of E-mail.

You have been approved the sum of Ten Million Five Hundred United States Dollars ($10, 5 MUSD) your fund has been insured with your to claim your winning prize, you are to reply to this letter In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications.

This is to inform you that your fund will be deposited with JPMORGAN CHASE BANK Washington D.C. UNITED STATE OF AMERICA for the wire transfer.

You are advised to get back to me with your full contact details to enable process the wire transfer to your nominated bank account or by delivery; you are to make a choice of transfer.

Confirm your direct contact details to me to avoid misdirection of funds.

FULL NAMES:
ADDRESS:
DIRECT CELL PHONE NUMBER:
AGE:
OCCUPATION:
CHOICE OF TRANFER?
BANK TO BANK TRANSFER:
DELIVERY:

Consider it necessary to call me to enable attend to your request urgently.

Thanks,

John Harvey.
206-984-0203

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam