419 scam: "The British National Lottery"<notifications@britishlottery.co.uk> Your Email Has Won One Million Pounds!

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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")
- "million pounds" (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)
- ",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)
- "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.
- +447045746752 (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.
- stdirect@googlemail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "The British National Lottery" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <stdirect@googlemail.com>
Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2013 04:51:54 -0400
Subject: Your Email Has Won One Million Pounds!

The British National Lottery
P O Box 1010
3b Olympic Way, Sefton Business Park,
Aintree, Liverpool , L30 1RD
(Customer Services)

Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369
Ticket number:56475600545 188
Lucky Numbers: 05,06,17,20,28,42(Bonus33)

WINNING NOTIFICATION:

We wish to congratulate and inform you on the selection of cash prize
1,000,000.00 (British Pounds) held on Saturday,8th June 2013
in London UK.The selection process was carried out through random
selection in Our computerized email selection system (ss) from a
database of over 250,000 email addresses drawn from which you were
selected. And Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:
56475600545 188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers:
05, 06, 17, 20, 28, 42 (Bonus 33) ,which subsequently won you the
lottery in the 1st category i.e match 5 plus bonus.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of 1,000,000.00,(One Million
Pounds) in cash credited to file KTU/ 9023118308/03.
This is from a total cash prize of 1000,000 Million Pounds,shared
amongst the (4)lucky winners in this category i.e Match 6 plus bonus.
For due processing of your winning claim,please contact the
CLAIMS AGENT Information Officer Mr. Stephen Young who has been
assigned to assist you. You are to contact him with the following
details for the release of your winnings.

Agent Name: Mr. Stephen Young
Tel:+44 704 574 6752
Email: stdirect@googlemail.com

Contact him, please provide him with the following Requirements below:

Claims Requirements:
1.Name in full----------------------
2.Address---------------------------
3.Nationality-----------------------
4.Age-------------------------------
5.Occupation------------------------
6.Sex ------------------------------
7.Phone/Fax-------------------------
8.Present Country-------------------

*Winners under the age of 18 are automatically disqualified. *Staff of
the British Lottery are not to partake in this Lottery.

Accept my hearty congratulations once again!

Yours in service,
Mrs.Fritz Hamilton
[Publicity Secretary]

WARNING!
You must keep strict confidentiality of your Prize Award claims to yourself until
your money is successfully handed over to you in other to avoid disqualification that may
arise from double claims.British National Lottery shall not be held liable for any loss of
funds arising from the above mentioned.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam