419 scam: BRITISH TELECOM AWARDS <britishtelecom@britelecom.com> CONGRATULATION YOUR EMAIL HAVE BEEN AWARD

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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:

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:
- "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.
- brittscenter@hotmail.com (Hotmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: BRITISH TELECOM AWARDS <britishtelecom@britelecom.com>
Reply-To: brittscenter@hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:24:52 -0500
Subject: CONGRATULATION YOUR EMAIL HAVE BEEN AWARD

British Telecommunication Awards Centre
London W1U 4RY, United Kingdom.

BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATION
30/32 Pool Street Caernarfon LiverpoolLL55 2AS United Kingdom

This is to inform you that your email address has won a prize money of Five
Hundred US Dollars ($500,000.00) for the First quarter 2010 prize promotion
which is organized by BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATION UNITED KINGDOM collects all the
email addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that
subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail and few from other email providers.
Six people are selected monthly to benefit from this promotion and you are of
the Select Winners. Winners shall be paid in accordance with their Settlement
Centers. British Telecom Award must be claimed not later that 30days from date
of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited
and returned to it source as unclaimed. Stated below are your identification
numbers.

Award Ref Number: EUM DN 085
Serial Number: 20910
Batch Number: EUM QY-3LJ4

Send your personal information with your Award Ref. and Batch no. to us to
enable us process your claim;

1. Full name:........................
2. Country:.......................
3. Sex:....................
4. Age:....................

You are requested to contact our co-coordinator Rev Robert, in United Kingdom
and send your winning identification numbers to him. You are advise only to
contact the coordinators on the email below, please you are only to respond to the below email,

Email: brittscenter@hotmail.com
Email:brittscenter@hotmail.com

If respond is not sent to (brittscenter@hotmail.com ) Nobody will respond back to you, as this is our direct email.

Furthermore you are to send the following information to our co-ordinator with
the above email address to facilitate the release of your fund to you.

Please do not reply if you are NOT the owner of this email address.

Congratulations!! Sincerely Your
Mrs Rose Mary
British Telecommunication Management
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After 10 years of establishment, British Telcommunication is worth over 23 Billion US Dollars with over 20,000 workers worldwide making it the best and most successful Tecommunication around the globe. Keep your Award information confidentail

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam