419 scam: " Lotto America®" Congratulations! Winner

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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:
- "million 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)
- ",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)
- "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!

Fraud email example:

From: " Lotto America®"
Reply-To: <americalotto189@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2023 12:52:42 -0800
Subject: Congratulations! Winner

ï»¿Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL)
Power Ball LotteryÂ® - USA Mega MillionsÂ® - Lotto AmericaÂ®
Tallahassee, Florida

Congratulations!

This is to inform you that a Winning payment in the amount of US$12,000,000.00 (Twelve Million United State Dollars) has been legally approved in your Name and ready to be paid out to you. In the ongoing Power Ball Lottery sponsored by USA Mega Millions, it was approved in your name by the Lottery Board Executive Directors Of Lotto America, and they will be instructing and approving your payout upon your response with confirmation of your identity and details.

This sum of amount won can be directly paid to your private bank account, received in cash or send to your Address via ATM Card or Check with immediate effect. Meanwhile, the good news about your won payment file now is that your winnings has it's legal payment file with some of the legal documents backing this prize has been forwarded to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for final approval & clearance.

In accordance with the clearance of this won fund by the IMF, your winnings sum of $12,000,000,000.00 USD will be transfered or sent to you within 24 hours through your designated choice on which process is the best alternative for you to receive your winnings.

We wait your immediate response with your information below to enable us proceed immediately with the remittance of your winning as we were directed. But before any further procedure, you ought to reconfirm these below details:

Full name:....
Address:.....
D.O.B:....
Phone No:......
Email Address:........
Occupation..........
A copy of ID/Passport/Driver's License:......

Please don't fail to fill this form above because it will help us identity and facilitate your Winnings and enable us transfer the fund without errors or to any third parties. Secondly we are so sorry for our late respond due to we have a lot of customers to attend here, so please fill this form for the immediate transfer.

Itâ€™s Your Ticket!

Yours Faithfully,
John F. Davis
Tel: (+1) 251 241-9980
Secretary, Lotto America Inc.
Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL)

Must be 18 or older to buy a lottery ticket. Please play responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call 1800-GAMBLERÂ® or visit www.800gambler.org

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam