419 scam: "Anthony Bells"<anto_anthony@bezeqint.net> CONGRATULATIONS FROM FACEBOOK!

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

Fraud email example:

From: "Anthony Bells" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <anto_anthonybellsd@yeah.net>
Date: Sat, 10 May 2014 05:15:09 -0700
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS FROM FACEBOOK!

CONGRATULATIONS FROM FACEBOOK!

We are pleased to announce the result of the DRAWS OF OUR FACEBOOK EMAIL LOTTERY 2014.

This notification is to inform you that you are a lucky winner of the sum of $3,000,000.00 (Three million Dollar) from the last draw. Your email with Ticket Number (7836980545189), Ref No (255126278102/2526) and Serial Number (68625751907) was announced after the online draw conducted from a random selection of emails by an Advanced automated random computer search from Facebook.

As one of the 50 lucky winners, you are required to process your claim through the Lottery Coordinator, this is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by participants. All participants were selected through a computer ballot system through their email addresses from all over the world, thanks to Software Company corporation who provided security by blocking spam and double entry.

Kindly send your information to (anto_anthony@aol.com) OR (anto_anthonybellsd@yeah.net). To avoid unnecessary delays and complications please remember to quote your Ticket, Reference and Batch Numbers in all correspondences, as you send your information:

FULL NAME:

FULL CONTACT ADDRESS:

MOBILE PHONE NUMBER:

ID CARD( Drivers License or Passport)

OCCUPATION:

MARITAL STATUS AND AGE:

NATIONALITY / COUNTRY:

TICKET NUMBER:

REF NUMBER:

SERIAL NUMBER:

YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:

Furthermore, if there is any change in email address please notify us immediately.

This is one of our innovations to encourage Facebook users, our own way of saying A BIG THANK YOU to you all our users for making Facebook your number one Social Networking to hook up with their families and friends all over the World.

If you are not interested please do not bother to reply and CONGRATULATIONS ONCE AGAIN FROM FACEBOOK!

Thanks,

Anthony Bells

Promo Coordinator

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam