419 scam: "John Touge"<johntouge@rediffmail.com> Congratulations you are the December 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:

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:
- "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.
- judephrimpong77@rediffmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "John Touge" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <judephrimpong77@rediffmail.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2013 13:53:02 +0400
Subject: Congratulations you are the December winner

UK LOTTERY ORGANIZATION (UK.L.O) 83162
FREE TICKET & ONLINE PROMOTIONS
SWEEPSTAKE. NO: UK/1480/TH/6922

DECEMBER 2013 YEAR ENDING ONLINE DRAWS ANNOUNCEMENT

Dear Lucky Winner,

As part of our Free Ticket/Online Lottery Awareness Program and Bonanza for December 2013 held in Bangkok Thailand, we have carried out “ACTIVE EMAIL ADDRESSES” computer draws in some regions. Note that the computer draws were based strictly and randomly on active email addresses of users that never played our lottery this year.

You have been officially certified a legitimate winner and beneficiary of US$4,600,000.00
Your email address drew the Winnings Lucky Number (W.L.N): 03 30 86 32 34 71 33. This makes you an international winner in your region. For details, guidance and processing of your lottery prize payment, contact our Appointed Claims/Processing Officer MR. JUDE PHRIMPONG by email immediately citing the following rightful winners’ payment verification information:

*** First and Last names
*** Telephone & mobile numbers
*** Resident country, City, Address & Age
*** Winnings Lucky number and month of draw
---------Occupation and Job title ----------

The Contact Details are:

MR. JUDE PHRIMPONG
EMAIL ADDRESS: judephrimpong77@rediffmail.com

If you are pondering how you won without entering the draws or purchasing the lottery ticket, then know that this very sweepstakes of December 2013 in which you have emerged as a winner was a free ticket online draws conducted on a computer balloting system using over hundred thousand email address. At the time of winners’ selection your email address came out among the first ten which won you the lottery in the first winnings category and entitles you to claim the complete sum of US$4.6Million without any hassles.

Congratulations from myself and the organizing team of the UK Lottery Organization’s year ending draws of December 2013.

Yours Sincerely,
MR. JOHN TOUGE
HEAD, W.N.M DEPARTMENT
UK LOTTERY ORGANIZATION (UK.L.O)

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam