419 scam: "Mrs. Karen Thomas"<office_bkk_bkk3@yahoo.com.hk> YOU HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED AS ONE OF TOP 12 LUCKY WINNERS

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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 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)
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "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.
- lotto_lotto466@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs. Karen Thomas" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lotto_lotto467@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:14:17 +0700
Subject: YOU HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED AS ONE OF TOP 12 LUCKY WINNERS

DIVISION OF YAHOO INTERNET LOTTERY
*ONE MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS*
AUTHORIZED BY YAHOO MAIL INC.
CONGRATULATIONS !!!!
YOU WON USD1,000.000.00 DOLLARS!
YOU HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED AS ONE OF TOP 12 LUCKY WINNERS !!!

CONGRATULATIONS!

YAHOO !! INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY ORGANIZATION
BANGKOK BRANCH OFFICE
ADDRESS: 3 RAJDAMNERN AVENUE
BANGKOK 10200 THAILAND

YAHOO! MAIL ANNOUNCES YOU AS ONE OF THE 25 LUCKY WINNERS IN THE ON GOING 12 YEARS YAHOO LOTTERY AWARD OF THE NEW YEAR HELD ON 17TH THE FEBRUARY 2010.

ALL 25 WINNING EMAIL ADDRESSES WERE RANDOMLY SELECTED FROM A BATCH OF 50,000,000 INTERNATIONAL EMAIL EACH FROM CANADA, AUSTRALIA, UNITED STATE, ASIA, EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA AND OCEANIA AS PART OF OUR INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS PROGRAM WHICH IS CONDUCTED ANNUALLY, CONSEQUENTLY, YOU HAVE BEEN APPROVED FOR A TOTAL PAY OUT OF ONE MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS (1,000,000,00 USD).

THIS LOTTERY WAS PROMOTED AND SPONSORED BY A CONGLOMERATE OF SOME MULTI-NATIONAL COMPANIES AS PART OF THEIR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TO THE CITIZENS IN THE COMMUNITIES WHERE THEY HAVE OPERATIONAL BASE.

FURTHER MORE YOUR DETAILS ( E-MAIL ADDRESS) FALLS WITHIN OUR BANGKOK REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN BANGKOK THAILAND, AS INDICATED IN YOUR PLAY COUPON AND YOUR PRIZE OF (1,000,000,00 USD) WILL BE RELEASED TO YOU FROM THIS REGIONAL BRANCH OFFICE IN BANGKOK THAILAND.

YOUR FUND IS NOW DEPOSITED WITH BANK/SECURITY COMPANY BANGKOK THAILAND AND INSURED IN YOUR NAME. DUE TO MIX-UP OF SOME NUMBER AND NAME, WE ASK THAT YOU KEEP THIS AWARD FROM PUBLIC NOTICE UNTIL YOUR CLAIM HAS BEEN PROCESSED, AND YOUR WINNING CHEQUE HAVE BEING SENT TO YOU OR REMITTED TO YOUR ACCOUNT, AS THIS IS PART OF OUR SECURITY PROTOCOL, TO AVOID DOUBLE CLAIMING AND UNWARRANTED TAKING OF ADVANTAGE OF THIS PROGRAM BY PARTICIPANTS, AS HAS HAPPENED IN THE PAST.

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE
THESE ARE YOUR IDENTIFICATION NUMBER
TICKET NUMBER....................085-1287-6077-09
SERIAL NUMBER....................51390-0
LUCKY NUMBER.....................03-05-12-14-28-38
REF NUMBER.......................N.EGS/3662-367114/13

TO BEGIN YOUR LOTTERY CLAIM, PLEASE CONTACT OUR YAHOO LOTTERY CO-ORDINATOR AS FOLLOWS.
FULL NAME: KANE IVA
EMAIL ADDRESS: lotto_lotto466@yahoo.com.hk
TELEPHONE NUMBER: +(66) 853-452-736

YOU ARE ADVICE TO SEND THE COMPLETED VERIFICATION FORM BELOW TO THE CO-ORDINATOR WHOSE EMAIL ADDRESS IS GIVEN ABOVE SO THAT YOU WILL BE ADVISED ON WHAT TO DO TO GET YOUR PRIZE MONEY. CONGRATULATION ONCE MORE!!

1.FULL NAME........................................
2.COUNTRY OF ORIGIN................................
3.PRESENT ADDRESS..................................
4.POSTCODE.........................................
5.DATE OF BIRTH....................................
6.OCCUPATION.......................................
7.SEX..............................................
8.TELEPHONE NUMBER.................................
9.FAX NUMBER(IF ANY)...............................
10.MARITAL STATUS..................................
11.WINNING NUMBER,BATCH NUMBER AND LOTTO NUMBER....

REMEMBER ALL PRIZE MONEY MUST BE CLAIMED NOT LATER THEN 30TH OF MARCH 2010, ANY CLAIM NOT MADE BY THIS DATE WILL BE RETURNED TO HER MAJESTY'S DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, AND ALSO BE INFORMED THAT 10% OF YOUR LOTTERY WINNING BELONGS TO THE (PROMOTIONS COMPANY) BECAUSE THEY ARE THE COMPANY THAT BOUGHT YOUR TICKET AND PLAYED THE LOTTERY IN YOUR NAME.

NOTE: ALSO THAT THIS 10% WILL BE REMITTED AFTER YOU HAVE RECEIVED YOUR WINNING PRIZE, BECAUSE THE MONEY IS INSURED IN YOUR NAME ALREADY

NOTE:IN ORDER TO AVOID UNNECESSARY DELAYS AND COMPLICATIONS, PLEASE REMEMBER TO QUOTE YOUR REFERENCE AND BATCH NUMBER IN ALL CORRESPONDENCE WITH US, FURTHERMORE, YOU SHOULD THERE BE ANY CHANGE OF ADDRESS, PLEASE DO INFORM OUR CO-COORDINATOR AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. YAHOO LOTTERY IS A FREE SERVICE THAT NOT REQUIRE YOU TO BE A YAHOO! REGISTERED USER.

AN ORIGINAL COPY OF YOUR LUCKY WINNING TICKET AND YOUR DEPOSIT CERTIFICATE WILL BE SENT TO YOU BY ADMINISTRATIVE REMITTANCE OPERATION MANAGER OF (SIAM CITY BANK BANGKOK THAILAND).

CONGRATULATIONS!! ONCE AGAIN FROM ALL THE MEMBERS OF OUR STAFF AND THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF OUR INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS PROGRAM.

CONGRATULATIONS ONCE MORE!!
YOUR'S SINCERELY,
DR. RAYMOND HISASHI
VICE PRESIDENT
YAHOO! LOTTO ORG.

MRS.KAREN THOMAS
PRESIDENT
YAHOO!LOTTO ORG
YAHOO.COM HTTP://WWW.YAHOO.COM

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam