419 scam: "ECOWAS DONATION FUNDS" <info@ecowas.com> (no subject)

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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:
- "million united states 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)
- "ecowas " (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "abuja" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
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.
- ecodonation009@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "ECOWAS DONATION FUNDS" <info@ecowas.com>
Reply-To: ecodonation009@aim.com
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:29:31 -0600 (CST)
Subject:

Ecowas Donations
101 Yakubu Gowon Cresent
Abuja, Nigeria.

This is to inform you that you have won a prize of (one million United
States Dollars) for this year 2009 promotion which is organized by ECOWAS
DONATIONS 2009.

ECOWAS DONATIONS 2009, collects all the email addresses of the people that
are active online,among the millions that subscribed to the Internet.we
only select five people every Year as our winners through electronic
balloting System without the winner applying. we congratulate you for
being one of the people selected.

You are to contact the events manager on or before your date of Claim,
Winners Shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre.Ecowas
Donations Prize must be claimed no later than 20 days from date of Draw
Notification after the Draw date in which Prize has won. Any prize not
claimed within this period will be forfeited.

These are your identification numbers:

Batch number.....................ECW 09102XN
Reff number.......................ECW35447XN
Winning identification Code.....ECW09788

These numbers fall within your Geographical Location, here is your
donation file Number 234\ECW003 you are requested to contact the event
manager/Claims Department, with your send your file Number 234\ECW003 and
your Winning identification Code.....ECW09788. Upon contact your claims
manager Mr. Allen White will verify and validate your claims You are
required to fill in the below information when contacting Mr. Allen White

VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM

1: Full Name:------------------
2: Home Address:---------------
3: Sex:------------------------
4: Age:------------------------
5: Tel Number:-----------------
6: Country:--------------------
7: Winning number:-------------
8: Occupation:-----------------
9. Date of birth---------------

(CONTACT FINANCE DEPARTMENT)
Name: Mr. Allen White
E-mail:ecodonation009@aim.com

Once again congratulations...

Yours faithfully,
Mrs Faith Adams

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam