419 scam: "UK Metropolitan Finance Lottery" <ukonline204@gmail.com> ****Congratulations your email ID has won a Lottery****

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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")
- ",500,000" (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)
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.
- +447544871190
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.
- jeff.mmj01@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "UK Metropolitan Finance Lottery" <ukonline204@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <jeff.mmj01@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:46:01 -0700
Subject: ****Congratulations your email ID has won a Lottery****

UK-ONLINE LOTTERY NOTIFICATION
DESK OF THE MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS / PRIZE AWARD
DEPARTMENT HEADQUARTERS: BRIDGE 1 MILL, 292A WALE STREET
MANCHESTER M4 7HR, ENGLAND

AWARD NOTIFICATION

Southern Metropolitan Royal Finance Lottery of British International Lottery Program wishes to inform you the results of the E-mail address ballot lottery program held by the British International Lottery Program on 27th April, 2011. Your Email account was selected as a winner of Five Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds Only. (£550,000.00)
This result is now made available to you and your email address attached to Reference # YMT/899001/7 and Batch # 69/40712/5UK in the Category A bonus ball 07, 19, 26, 31, 40, 46, and bonus ball 50. Participants in the draws were randomly selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 e-mail addresses of Individuals/Companies from Europe, Africa, Americas, Asia, Australia, Canada, Middle East, and New Zealand as part of our electronic business Promotions Program. We advice that you keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. For the release of your winnings; kindly contact your claims agent with the following details to expedite the processing of your prize winning.

1. Y our Full Names
2. Your Home Address
3. Your Telephone and Fax Numbers
4. Your Date of Birth
5. Your Sex/Marital Status
6. Your Occupation
7. Your Nationality
8. Amount you won
9. Send your reference and batch numbers for verification.

To begin your Claim, please contact our Claims Agents Immediately with the
Following Information:
NAME: Jeff Morgan
TELEPHONE NUMBER: +44 754 487 1190
EMAIL: jeff.mmj01@yahoo.co.uk

All winning must be claimed not later than 14 days from the date of receipt of this email. After this date all prize winning will treated as Unclaimed. Note in order to avoid unnecessary delays; remember to quote your Reference and Batch numbers.
Congratulations once again from all our members of staff and thank you for being part of our special quarterly promotional Lottery program.

Yours Sincerely,
MRS RITA WILLIAMS
(Information and Promotion Manager)

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam