419 scam: "GEORGE ARIK"<cologneattorneys@gmail.com> Goodnews

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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:
- "22 garden close, stamford" (address often used in fake lottery scams)
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million 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)
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.
- info.rosawilliams@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "GEORGE ARIK" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <info.rosawilliams@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2010 12:59:11 +0200
Subject: Goodnews

Goodnews
PROMOTION DEPARTMENT OF
EBIZ ONLINE PROMOTION LOTTERY.
22 Garden Close, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 2YP, London
United Kingdom.

Reply to : info.rosawilliams@gmail.com

Attention Winner,
!!CONGRATULATION YOU ARE A WINNER!!!.
The Board of Directors, members of staff of THE PROMOTION DEPARTMENT OF
EBIZ ONLINE PROMOTION LOTTERY and your email was randomly selected on in more than Five email Addresses people and companies worldwide as the star prize winner amongst other consolation prize winners.

Amount Won: a cash prize of £450,000.00 GBP (Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great British pounds).

Promotion Department wishes to congratulate you on your success as the STAR PRIZE WINNER: your e-mail id was selected through the computer ballot system, as a winner of our online lottery program, The selection process was carried out through random selection in our Computerized Email Selection System (C.E.S.S.) from a database of over a million email addresses from the World Wide Web.
Each email address was attached to a ticket number and your email with
ticket number: 5647600545188 and serial number: EOPL/556543450906 was randomly selected as the star prize winner amongst other consolation prize winners. Amount Won: a cash prize of £450,000.00 GBP (Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great British pounds).
You are expected to provide the claims officer with the under listed information:
. Full names........
2. Phone number........
3. Age........
4. Sex........
5. Present Location (Country)........
Sincerely, GEORGE ARIK
LOTTERY COORDINATOR/AGENT,
EBIZ INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS.
PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT, UK.
phone + 44 7924 511727
Claims Manager: Mrs ROSA WILLIAMS : Reply to
Email: info.rosawilliams@gmail.com
It is expected that you would forward this information as soon as possible to enable us attend to your winnings. Once we confirm your information, your payments would be processed.
Once again on behalf of all our staff, CONGRATULATIONS!!
N.B:
1.All claims are nullified after 20 working days from the day received.
2. Your Ref number must be in all your mails with the claims officer.
3. Do inform the claims officer of any change of names or addresses.
4. Please do not reply to this email. Contact your claim
===========================================================
The INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT, UK, is proudly sponsored by financial Corps, the Euro American group and a conglomeration of other international IT companies and is organized to encourage the use of the internet and computers worldwide. We are proud to say that over 200 Million Pounds are won annually in more than 150 countries around the globe.
Material Copyright © 2009 The Lottery Co. Ltd.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam