419 scam: WINS <vallaiesia98@cox.net> ECOWAS DONATION 2011

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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:
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- "ecowas " (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "abuja" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
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.
- +2348053449416 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: WINS <vallaiesia98@cox.net>
Reply-To: wdv_09@teman.zikri.com
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2011 2:09:13 -0400
Subject: ECOWAS DONATION 2011

ECOWAS DONATION 2011
HEAD OFFICE PLOT 4,
BLOCK 23, GARKI,
ABUJA-NIGERIA
TEL:+2348053449416

Dear Beneficiary,this is to inform you that you have won a prize money of
Six Million Eight Hundread And Fifty Thousand United States Dollars (6,850,000.00)
for this year 2011 Lottery promotion which is organized by ECOWAS DONATIONS 2011.

ECOWAS DONATIONS 2011, collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online,
among the millions that subscribed to the Internet. We only select five people every year
as our winners through electronic balloting system
without the winner applying, we congratulate you for being one of the people selected.

These are your identification numbers:
Batch number.....................ECW 08112XN
Ref number.......................ECW98107XN
Winning number...................ECW01462

These numbers fall within your Location file,
you are requested to contact the Ecowas Counselor/Claims Department,
send your winning identification numbers to him, along with the
following details below ,to enable him verify your claims:

FULL NAMES: ....... FORWARDING ADDRESSES:.....CITY/STATE: .... COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:......
COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE:....... MARITAL STATUS:.... NATIONALITY:.......
SEX:....... DATE OF BIRTH:... WINNING EMAIL:......
OCCUPATION: ........ TEL/FAX:..........

(CONTACT ECOWAS COUNSELOR)
Name: Brr. Frank Akimbo
Tel: +2348053449416

mail:wdv_09@forotrabajo.es

Mrs. Mary Johnson
Ecowas Secretary

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam