419 scam: AFCON Lottery <gerardstevens000@googlemail.com> Date:01/26/2014

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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:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million us dollars" (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)
- "hundred thousand united state dollars" (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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
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.
- agentlisawhite@googlemail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: AFCON Lottery <gerardstevens000@googlemail.com>
Reply-To: agentlisawhite@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 17:48:39 -0600
Subject: Date:01/26/2014

Attention:

We happily announce to you the draw of the AFCON 2013 lottery bid online programs.Your e-mail address attached, to ticket number: 694 75600545 721 with Serial number: 886/04 drew the lucky Numbers:03-4-12-16-30-45, which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category. You are therefore,been approved to claim a total sum of $1,400,000.00(ONE MILLION FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATE DOLLARS) in cash credited to file RPC/9080115322/44. This is from a total cash prize of $98 Million US Dollars. This year Lottery Program Jackpot is the largest ever for AFCON Lottery.In view of this,your $1,400,000.00 (ONE MILLION FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATE DOLLARS) would be released to you by our affiliate bank.Our agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds to you as soon as you make contact with her. All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web site through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 companies.To fi!
le for your claim,do not respond to this email rather contact our fiduciary Claim agent with the below details for processing of your claims.

Fiduciary Claim Agent Name: Mrs.Lisa White
Email: agentlisawhite@googlemail.com

Note that all winning must be claimed not later than 7th of FEBRUARY 2014. After this date all unclaimed, funds will be included in the next Stake.Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications please remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all correspondence.Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform our agent as soon as possible. Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for being part of our promotional program.

Note: Anybody under the age of 18 is automatically disqualified.

Sincerely yours,
Gerard Stevens
Lottery Coordinator

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam