419 scam: "Melinda Hershey"<melhershy@hotmail.com> Your Email Won The Prize

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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:

The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "el gordo " (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",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)
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 mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +34634008702 (Spain, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "Melinda Hershey" (may be fake)
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:56:32 -0300
Subject: Your Email Won The Prize

SPANISH EL GORDO S.A:
CUSTOMER SERVICE, BARCELONA.
REFERENCE NUMBER: FCB/09/001
BATCH NUMBER: 2009/430/SPELG
ATTN: WINNER,
!!!!!!!! NOTIFICATION OF AWARD WINNING PRIZE!!!!!!!!
This is to notify you of the outcome of the just concluded SPANISH EL GORDO
Online draw in collaboration with Fundació FC Barcelona, a program held on the
28th of May 2009 here in Barcelona. Your e-mail address attached to TICKET No:
FCB/09/2219 with REFERENCE No: 000106 drew ETO’O and MESSI as goal scorer in
the Champions Final which consequently won in the 1ST CATEGORY, you are
therefore approved for a cash prize of €990.000.00cents (Nine Hundred and
Ninety Thousand Euro).
!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!
This draw was carried out through a random quantitative sampling in our
selection program (BOTE) from a database of over 1,000,000 email addresses
drawn from the FCBARCELONA FAN CLUB online.
The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from
an exclusive list of 30,031 Email addresses of individuals and corporate bodies
picked by an advanced automated sampling software from the FCBARCELONA FANS
online . As such no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to
different ticket numbers for representation, identification and privacy.
This promotion is to commemorate the Celebration of the TREBLE AWARD of
FCBARCELONA in the concluded football season and also encourage our prominent
FANS all over the world. SPANISH EL GORDO is approved and Licensed by Loterías
y Apuestas del Estado. Ensure to keep your winning information in confidence
until your award is duly processed and claimed. This is part of our security
measures to avoid double claiming or unwarranted advantage taking of the
situation by impersonators.
To begin your claims, contact the Processing Officer assigned to you
immediately via email or telephone with the information below:
Loteria-Claim Processing Agent
Name: Mr. Pedro Thomas
Email: pthomas1@ozu.es
TEL: +34-634-00-87-02
You are to send the information below to the CLAIM PROCESSING OFFICER via
email for the confirmation of your winning.
1. Your full names: 2. Your address: 3. Telephone/fax numbers: 4.
Occupation/age:
5. Amount won: 6.. Reference Number: 7. Batch Number: 8. Ticket Number:
9. Reconfirm Email Address: 10. Date Notified:
Note that all prize money must be claimed within two weeks of this
notification and failure to do so may result in forfeiting this award prize as
Un-claimed. In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications please
remember to quote your Reference Number and Ticket Number in every
correspondence with the Claims Officer.
Yours Sincerely,
Snr. Melinda Hershey
Loteria Coordinator
Note:
- All claims are nullified after 14 working days from today.
- Do inform the claims officer of any change of Names, Address and Email.
- All winners under the age of 18 are automatically disqualified.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam