419 scam: GOOGLE AWARD <ray.yeung@chunwo.com> Your email id has won you 500,000.00 British 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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand great british 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)
- "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)
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- "and cash it" (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
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.
- gfiducaryagent@googlemail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: GOOGLE AWARD <ray.yeung@chunwo.com>
Reply-To: gfiducaryagent@googlemail.com
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2015 10:08:37 +0100
Subject: Your email id has won you 500,000.00 British Pounds

*Google Promotion Award DepartmentÂ®44 Oakleugh Road South London N11
INPUnited Kingdom.GOOGLE 2015 ANNIVERSARY.Dear Lucky Winner,We wish to
congratulate you once again on this note, for being part of our winners
selected this year. This promotion was set-up to encourage the active users
of the Google search engine and the Google ancillary services. Hence we do
believe with your winning prize, you will continue to be active and
patronage to the Google search engine. Google is now the biggest search
engine worldwide and in an effort to make sure that it remains the most
widely used search engine.The Google Promotion Award Team collects the
E-mail addresses of all active users online from Canada, Australia, United
States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceanic as part of our
international promotional program, among the people that subscribed to
GOOGLE SEARCH ENGINE, GOOGLEMAIL, YAHOOMAIL, MSN, HOTMAIL, AOL, REDIFFMAIL,
ALTAVISTA, BIGPOND and all the social networks online, among the billions
users that subscribe to internet in which your email address did emerge as
one of the lucky winners that won Â£500,000.00 {Five Hundred Thousand Great
British Pounds Sterling} through electronic balloting System without the
winner applying, we are congratulating you for having been one of the lucky
people that won for this Month of February.A winning cheque of Â£500,000.00
{Five Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds Sterling} will be issued on
your name by our fiduciary agent, and also a certificate of prize claims
will be sent alongside your winning cheque.Note that all winners cheque are
certified international bank draft and when delivered and received by you,
you can deposit and cash it in your bank without any delay.*

*To claim your won prize, please contact the Google Award claims Processing
Agent (Mr Grahams Benfield) neatly filling the verification details below.*
* .*

GOOGLE AWARD CLAIMS PROCESSING AGENT (UNITED KINGDOM)
Mr Grahams Benfield
Email: *gfiducaryagent@googlemail.com <gfiducaryagent@googlemail.com>*

*Kindly forward your verification details as stated below to the Google
Processing Agent;1. FULL NAMES:2. HOUSE ADDRESS:3. OCCUPATION:4. SEX:5.
AGE:6. DIRECT PHONE NO:7. COUNTRY:8. TICKET NUMBER: 008696757336649. SERIAL
NUMBER: BTD/8070447706/0610.LUCKY NUMBER: 12-1223-35-40-41(12)Contact
Person: Mr Grahams BenfieldContact Email: **gfiducaryagent@googlemail.com
<gfiducaryagent@googlemail.com>*

*The Google Promotion Award Team has discovered a huge number of double
claims due to winners informing close friends relatives and third parties
about their winning and also sharing their pin numbers. As a result of
this, these friends try to claim the lottery on-behalf of the real winners.
The Google Promotion Award Team has reached a decision that any double
claim discovered by the Lottery Board will result to the canceling of that
particular winning, making a loss for both the double claimer and the real
winner, as it is taken that the real winner was the informer to the double
claimer about the lottery. So you are hereby strongly advised once more to
keep your winnings strictly confidential until you claim your
prize.Congratulations from the Staffs & Members of the Google interactive
Lotteries Board Commission.Mrs.Charlene Richards.Promotion Award
Manager.C2015 Google Corporation.*

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam