419 scam: " Facebook Inc©"<promo@facebook.com> Re: You have won.

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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:
- "from: the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "mikewilliams199@yahoo.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
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!

Fraud email example:

From: " Facebook Inc©" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mikewilliams199@yahoo.cn>
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2013 20:59:49 +0100
Subject: Re: You have won.

Facebook Online International Lottery
From: The Desk Of the President.
International Promotions / Prize Award.
www.facebook.com
Category: 2nd

Dear Facebook Winner,

Thank you for your using www.facebook.com

Seasons greetings to you Dear lucky winner. We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual final draws held on the 18th of December 2012 by Facebook group in cash promotion to encourage the usage of Facebook worldwide, Your name was among the 20 lucky winners who won $850.000.00USD (Eight hundred and Fifty Thousand United State dollars) each on the Facebook group promotion award attached to Lucky Number (FB-225-7736), Ticket Number (FB-172-60), Batch Number (FB-0281/544) and Serial Number (99352748-2012).

The online draws was conducted by a random selection of emails you were picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the Facebook in other to claim your $850.000.00usd the lottery program which is a new innovation by Facebook, is aimed at saying a big thank you to all our users for making Facebook their number one means to connect, communicate, relate and hook up with their families and friends over the years.

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants and scam artists all participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from over 20,000 companies and 30,000,000 individuals email addresses from all over the world. This promotional program takes place every three years. You may be rest assured that this is real and legal. There are some scam artists around but thanks to the FBI, 216 of them have been arrested.

You are required to contact the head of our Verification department in the person of Mr. Lincoln Howard via this email address ( verification@uslotteryfiduciaryagent.com ) with information below for the complete processing of your Winning certificate and further information regarding the disbursement of your lottery winnings.
Full Name:
Contact Address:
Mobile Number:
Occupation:
Marital Status:
Sex:
Age:
Country of Residence:
Nationality:
Lucky Number:
Ticket Number:
Batch Number:
Serial Number:
Your Email Address:

Remember all winnings must be claimed not later than Monday 14th January,2013. After this date, all unclaimed funds will be included in the next stake. To avoid unnecessary delays and complications please remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in all correspondences. Furthermore, if there is any change in email address please contact us on time.

Furthermore, if there is any change in email addresses please contact us on time. Do not reply to this email, Contact the disbursement department with the email provided above.

Note: if you are not interested please do not bother to reply.

Thanks and more Congratulations!

APPROVED AND SIGNED
BY MR MARK ZUCKERBERG CEO FACEBOOK TEAM

Regards,
mike Widen
Email: mikewilliams199@yahoo.cn
Facebook Inc ©2012
471 Emerson St. Palo Alto,
CA 94301-1605
United States.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam