419 scam: "Google Corporation" <info@google.org> User Award 2013

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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:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
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.
- google.corporation@hotmail.com (Hotmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "Google Corporation" <info@google.org>
Reply-To: google.corporation@hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 19 May 2013 20:43:07 -0400
Subject: User Award 2013

Google Corporation®
Belgrave House,
76 Buckingham Palace Road,
London SW1W 9TQ,
United Kingdom.

CONSOLATION PRIZE WINNING NOTICE!!!

Ref NO: GCS/G6I/88809
Batch: GUK/679/33/097I

We wish to congratulate you once again on this note, for being part of our
winners selected this year. This promotion was set-up to encourage the
active users of the Google search engine and the Google ancillary
services. Hence we do believe with your winning prize, you will continue
to be active and patronage to the Google search engine. Google is now the
biggest search engine Worldwide and in an effort to make sure that it
remains the most widely used search engine, we ran an online e-mail beta
test which your email address won ?850,000.00 GBP {Eight Hundred and Fifty
Thousand Great British Pounds Sterling}.

A winning Cheque will be issued in your name by Google Promotion Board,
and also a certificate of prize claims will be sent along side your
winning Cheque. In your best interest to avoid mix up of numbers and names
of any kind, we request that you keep the entire details of your award
strictly from public notice until the process of transferring your claims
has been completed, and your funds remitted to your account. This is part
of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by
participants / non participants of this program. Kindly fill-in the
verification and fund release form below.

VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM.
(1) Your contact address:
(2) Your Tel/Fax numbers:
(3) Your Nationality/Country:
(4) Your Full Name:
(5) Sex:
(6) Occupation:
(7) Age:
(8) Ever won an online lottery?

Please contact your claims agent immediately for due processing and
remittance of your prize money to file for your prize claim, kindly
contact your CLAIMS agent.
CONTACT CLAIMS OFFICE:
Google Promotion Board
Dr. Williams Gibson
google.corporation@hotmail.com

NOTE: For easy reference and identification, find below your reference and
Batch numbers. Remember to quote these numbers in every one of your
correspondence with your claims agent. Ref NO: GCS/G6I/88809, Batch:
GUK/679/33/097I.

Congratulations once again from all our staff and thank you for being part
of our promotions program.

Lawrence Page
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.
©2013 Google Corporation.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam