419 scam: "Sergey Brin"<info@google.com> Announcer !!! Announcer !!!

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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.
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.
- mronaldthosko@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Sergey Brin" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mronaldthosko@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 06:40:53 +0200
Subject: Announcer !!! Announcer !!!

Dear Winner,

Are you the correct owner of this email address? If yes then be glad this day as the result of the Microsoft and Google 2015

online e-mail address free-ticket winning draws of 2015 has just been released and we are glad to announce to you that your

email address won you the sweepstakes in the first category and you are entitled to claim the sum of one Million USA Dollars.

"Your Email Address" was selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand Emails from Canada,

Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceanic as part of our international promotions program which

is conducted annually.

Your email address was entered for the online draw on this ticket #:085-12876077-09 and won on this Winnings #: 03-06-08-10-

12-16-27. For claims, contact Mr. Ronald T. Hoskos, on this email: mronaldthosko@gmail.com Phone number: +16475590595.for

options on how to receive your won prize of US$1M.

VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM
------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Full name:...................................
2. Residential Address: ............................................................
3. Sex:......................
4. Age: .........................
5. Telephone Number: ............................................
6. Occupation:.....................................................
7. Country:..................................
8. Date of notification of winnings: .......................................
9. Lucky NO: .......................................................
10. Ticket No: ...............................................................
11. copy of your ID card or International passpoort

Announcer !!!

Sergey Brin
Microsoft and Google Lottery Award
62-64 Southampton Row
Holborn, Canada

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam