419 scam: <bmwinfo@yahoo.com> IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION

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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:

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:
- ",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)
- "bmwnotifier_dept@live.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
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.
- +447045746721 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: <bmwinfo@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: bmwnotifier_dept@live.com
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 22:43:43 +0200
Subject: IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION

--

We wish to inform you that Your email address has emerged as one of the winners in the 2010 BMW AUTOMOBILE E-MAIL PROMOTION held in London, this makes you a winner of £500,000.Your name will be on our top records as luckiest E-MAIL for the year 2010.Your email address was randomly selected from a database of over 1,000,000 email addresses drawn from the WORLD-WIDE-WEB. A ticket number was attached to each email address and your email address tagged ticket number: 5647600545188, serial number: BMWAMP/556543450906 and Reference Number: BMWAMP:2551256003/23 emerged as the star ticket email.

To begin processing of your prize contact:
Engr Phillip Brown,
Agent
E-mail:bmwnotifier_dept@live.com
Phone:+447045746721.
Contact him, with your, Serial No: BMWAMP/556543450906 and Ref
No:BMWAMP:2551256003/23.

Also provide listed information:
VERIFICATION FORM:
1.) FULL NAME:
2.) AGE:
3.) SEX:
4.) ADDRESS:
5.) ZIP/POSTAL CODE:
6.) STATE/PROVINCE:
7.) COUNTRY:
8.) PHONE:
9.) OCCUPATION/:
10.) COMPANY:
11.) EMAIL ADDRESS:
12.) TICKET NUMBER:
13.) SERIAL NUMBER:

Regards,
Engr Chris Blee

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam