419 scam: "Serah Atkinson" <gitadanupranata@umy.ac.id> (no subject)os....lizaberth Rubylyn;ification!!!!pePŒë¸"

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
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.
- +447045759110 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
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.
- paul.berman.vgvc@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Serah Atkinson" <gitadanupranata@umy.ac.id>
Reply-To: paul.berman.vgvc@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2010 06:19:45 +0700 (WIT)
Subject:

UK LOTTO WORLDWIDE HEADQUARTERS
3 OLYMPIC WAYS, NORTH LANARKSHIRE,
NL RA. UNITED KINGDOM.

DEAR SIR/MADAM
NOTICE OF CONSOLATION PRIZE WINNING

This email confirms that you have been notified by the UK Lotto Worldwide
e-mail Online draw Promotion, drawn on saturday the 29th May, 2010.

We wish to congratulate you on the selection of your e-mail coupon number
which was selected among the eight (8) lucky consolation prize winners in
this category. This promotion takes place weekly.

Your email address identified with ticket number: 56475600545 188, Serial
number: 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers: 8, 9, 16, 20, 26, 37 (bonus no)
which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd categorys. You have been
approved to claim a total sum of £450,000.00 (Four hundred and fifty
thousand pounds sterling) in cash credited to file no KIT/9023118308/06.

All participants for the online version were selected randomly by
electronic ballot selection system extracted from over 100,000 e-mail
addresses that are listed online and zoning all participants by their
respective continents from across the globe. Your email address included
among the 100,000 different emails addresses that where submitted by our
partner international email provider companies.

You are advised to keep all your winning information confidential, any
exposure of wining information by direct/indirect will be disqualified. To
avoid unnecessary delay and complications always remember to quote your
serial number in all correspondence.

To file for your claim, write to the Payment center (international
remittance unit). See contact person and email address below:

Contact Person: Mr. Paul Berman
CLAIM MANAGER EMAIL: ((paul.berman.vgvc@hotmail.com)
Tel:+447045759110
Fax:+448704712810

Congratulations from me and staff of the UK Lotto Worldwide Promotion.

Yours Faithfully,
Mrs. Serah Atkinson
(coordinator)
Mr. Sudhir Devappa
(Asst coordinator)
For: UK LOTTO WORLDWIDE.
You must be 16 or over to claim a prize

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam