419 scam: "POWERBALL LOTTERY INC." <amb.sanders@gmail.com> YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED!

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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")
- "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 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.
- profdanielpavin@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "POWERBALL LOTTERY INC." <amb.sanders@gmail.com>
Reply-To: profdanielpavin@aol.com
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 02:24:03 +0100
Subject: YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED!

POWERBALL INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY.
Award Promotion Office
19 Cornwallis Road Bilton,
Rugby CV22 7HL
United Kingdom.

Dear Internet User,

Are you the owner of this e-mail address? If YES, We wish to congratulate
and notify you that your e-mail address has won for you the sum of One
Million Pounds Sterling (1,000,000.00 GBP) in the just concluded Powerball
International Online Promo 2013, as final results were officially released
to you today as one of our Ten (10) Lucky Winner. Note: That no tickets
were sold. All participant where selected through our automated
computerized balloting system drawn from over [50 million] e-mail addresses
of companies, corporate bodies and individuals from Canada, Australia,
United States, Asia, Europe, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Middle East
as conducted annually.

This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some
multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the
citizens in the communities where they have operational base. Therefore,
to file for claims, you are advised to contact ( Prof. Daniel Pavin ) who
is the Director, Claims / Processing Department, with the contact details
below:-

Name:- Prof. Daniel Pavin
E-mail:- profdanielpavin@aol.com

For security reasons. We advice all winners to keep this information
confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize
released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this programme by
non-participant or non-official personnel.

NOTE: THAT ANY BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY ON THE PART OF THE WINNERS WILL
RESULT TO DISQUALIFICATION.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Thanks.

Yours faithfully,
Mrs Theresa R. Howard
(Lottery Co-ordinator)
For: Powerball Lottery Board.

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT AT (
profdanielpavin@aol.com )

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam