419 scam: "DR George Cooper"<cocacolaaward@cocacola.org> COCACOLA 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:

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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "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.
- +447010037832 (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.
- georgecooper009@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "DR George Cooper" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <georgecooper009@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:17:52 -0600
Subject: COCACOLA AWARD!!!!!

PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD
DEPTCOCA'COLA AVENUE
STAMFORD BRIDGE LONDON.
SW1V 3DW UNITED KINGDOM
Ticket Number (7PWYZ2010)
Ballot Number (BT:12052010/20)

Dear email account user,

THE COCA COLA COMPANY OFFICIAL PRIZE NOTIFICATION We are pleased to inform
you of the result of the just concluded annual final draws by Coca-Cola in
conjunction with the British American Tobacco Worldwide Promotion,your email
was among the five(5) Lucky winners who won $800,000USD each on the COCA COLA
COMPANY PROMOTION.

However the results were released and your email was attached to ticket number
(7PWYZ2010) and ballot number (BT:12052010/20)The online draws was conducted
by a random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list and corporate bodies
picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the Internet.

However, no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to
different ticket numbers for representation and privacy. The selection
process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email
selection machine (TOPAZ) from a database of over 250,000 email addresses
drawn from all the continents of the world.

This Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board and also Licensed by
the The International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR).This lottery
is the 3rd of its kind and we intend to sensitize the public.In other to
claim your US$800,000.00 prize winning!, Please contact our
fiduciary agent for claims with the contact below Agent.

DR George Cooper
Telephone: +44 701 003 7832
Email: georgecooper009@hotmail.com

FILL OUT THIS PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM FORM BELOW:
1.FULL NAMES..................
2.DATE OF BIRTH...............
3.SEX.........................
4.CONTACT ADDRESS.............
5.COUNTRY.....................
6.MOBILE NUMBER...............
7.OCCUPATION..................
8.MONTHLY INCOME..............

Yours faithfully,
Mrs Rose Wood
Online Coordinator.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam