419 scam: "Heritage International Foundation" <contacts@heritage.org> Payment

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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:
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "very confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a 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.
- +447024067407 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "Heritage International Foundation" <contacts@heritage.org>
Reply-To: heritagefoundation@gncn.net
Date: Sat, 3 Sep 2011 08:27:38 +1000
Subject: Payment

Heritage International Foundation
5, Carlton Close,
London, NW3 7UA.
United Kingdom.
Tel: +44-702-406-7407
Fax: +44-700-603-5575

Grant Announcement

The Heritage International Foundation sends this notification email to you
as one of the recipients of her cash Grant for your community as well as
your personal business development. The Heritage Foundation was
established on the 30th July, 1992 by a Multi-Million groups of companies
in Europe. The Foundation had it primary objective based on humanitarian
empowerment and community development. The Foundation philosophy is not
how much you have but how much you are willing to give back to the
societies.

To celebrate its 19th anniversary program for the year; the Heritage
Foundation is giving out a cash grant donation of £300,000.00 (Three
Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling) each to six (6) lucky recipients
worldwide. Method of selction, email addresses were selected randomly from
over 400,000 world wide web, your email address were selected among the
lucky recipients to receive the grant sum of £300,000.00 aid from the
Heritage International Foundation in accordance with the enabling act of
the parliament.

However, 50% of this Grant must be used by the recipient for his/her
community development. This program is a yearly activity, which is a
measure of our Universal Development Program (UDP). The notable objective
of this program is to ensure that a change in the standard of living of
the people awarded this Grant and their communities are significantly and
positively enhanced.

The Heritage Intenational Foundation has been assured of the highest
organizational standard courtesy of the United Nations (UN), Who agrees on
the cooperative principles of the Foundation and say "It is our belief
that we can achieve great success in the general welfare of all through
this program". That is the reason the Heritage Foundation is doing
everything possible to get all her awardees notified through email.

The Foundation was formed as a cooperative and strongly believes in the
cooperative principles. In keeping with these ideas, the Heritage
Foundation Board of Trustees has implemented a Community enhancement
Program as well as Personal Business Development. This is a key element of
the cooperatives vision and Strategic Plan to assist in personal business
development and also promoting community well being in our service
areas.You are required to contact the Anniversary Secretary with your
information given below:

*********************
Name:
Address:
Tel:
*********************
You are advised to keep your notification email very confidential until
your grant gets to you and to avoid any form of impersonation or double
claiming that we normally experience. Any reported case of unqualified or
double claiming leads to instant cancellation of that particular Grant.
All acknowledgement email(s) should be directed to the office below:

Name: Albert Thomas
Email: albertthomas@globomail.com
Tel: +44-702-406-7407

Congratulations once again from staff and members of the Heritage
Foundation.

Yours Sincerely,
James Thomas
Secretray of the Council
The Heritage International Foundation.

Copyright © 1992-2011 the Heritage International Foundation Inc All Rights
Reserved.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam