419 scam: "Google Incorporations." <enriquegu@municipiojipijapa.gob.ec> Google Category A Official Notification.

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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:
- "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. )
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.
- msruthporat1957@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Google Incorporations." <enriquegu@municipiojipijapa.gob.ec>
Reply-To: "ruthporat1957@outlook.com" <ruthporat1957@outlook.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2015 12:17:11 -0500 (ECT)
Subject: Google Category A Official Notification.

Google IncorporationsÂ®
Belgrave House,
76 Buckingham Palace Road,
London SW1W 9TQ,
United Kingdom.

We wish to congratulate you over your success in the official publication of results of the E-mail electronic online sweepstake organized by Google, in conjunction with the Foundation for the Promotion of Software Products (F.P.S.P) and confirmed by our co-sponsors VisaÂ®/MasterCardÂ® International. Google earns its profit mainly from advertising using their very own Gmail, Gala, Sify e-mail services, Google Maps, Google Apps, Orkut social networking, You Tube video sharing, Google search engine and the Google ancillary services which are all offered to the public for free.

This is to inform you that you are among the Ten (10) lucky winners of Category A. Hence we do believe with your winning prize, you will continue to be active to the Google search engine/ ancillary services. Google is now the biggest search engine worldwide and in an effort to make sure that it remains the most widely used search engine, we ran an on-line e-mail beta test which your email address won 950,000.00

We wish to formally announce to you that you have successfully passed the requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and satisfactory report Test conducted for all on-line winners.

A winning cheque will be issued in your name by the Google Promotion Award Team, You have therefore won the entire sum of 950,000.00 {Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great British Pounds} and also a certificate of prize claims which will be sent along side your winnings cheque.

Google Promotion Award Team
Ms. Ruth Porat
Email: msruthporat1957@gmail.com

You are advised to contact the chief financial officer of Google Incorporations (Ruth Porat via the above email) with the following details to avoid unnecessary delay and complications.

VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM.

(1) Your contact address.
(2) Your Tel/Fax numbers.
(3) Your Nationality/Country.
(4) Your Full Name.
(5) Occupation/Age.

Google values your right to privacy! Your information is 100% secured and will be used exclusively for the purpose of this award only.

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 their winnings on behalf of the real winners. The Google Promotion Award Team has reached a decision from headquarters that any double claim discovered by the Lottery Board will result to the cancelling 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.

Sincerely,
Lawrence Page
Co-founder of Googleâ„¢

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam