419 scam: "WORLD INTERNET PROGRAMS®"<m225lg@yahoo.fr> REON TO RELEASE YOUR INHERITANCE FUNDIONull....PŒë¸"

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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.
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.
- m224lg@web.de (Web.de, Germany; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "WORLD INTERNET PROGRAMS®" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <m225lg@web.de>
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2010 07:21:37 +0100
Subject: RE

Dear User of the Internet

How are you doing today? This is an official notification to inform you of your funds from

a total cash prize of US$ 50.0m, given to the first fifty (50) people who will be compensated

in this cash grant world internet programs this year 2010.

All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web site through computer draw

system and extracted from over 700,000 companies I am using this opportunity to thank

you for using the Internet daily.

Due to your effort, using internet programs indoor and in your office, we want to compensate

you and show our gratitude, we have awarded your email with the sum of US$1.0m. We have

authorized Mr. Owen Oswald to assist you in getting your compensation bank draft across to you.

Please email Mr. Owen Oswald at m224lg@web.de for further proceedings of you claims.

Finally remember that instruction have been forwarded to Mr. Owen Oswald on your behalf

to process the proof of ownership certificate and ask for your transfer details as soon as you

send the following information to him.

Full Name [              ]

Contact/ Home Address [             ] (home or office)

Cell Number [               ]

Age [             ]

Congratulations

Mrs. Helen Miller (JP)

Affiliate, UN cash grant.

International Online Lottery Co-coordinator.

© 2010 WORLD INTERNET PROGRAMS®

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam