419 scam: "WILLIAMS"<frant@officemail.com> YOU ARE A LUCKY WINNER

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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "international lottery programme" (no such lottery exists)
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)
- "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)
- "francis_2010@w.cn" (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.
- +2348082310922 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "WILLIAMS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <francis_2010@w.cn>
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:14:20 +0100
Subject: YOU ARE A LUCKY WINNER

Ref: 475061725
Batch: 7056490902/188
Winning no: GB8701/LPRC

CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE A LUCKY WINNER

Dear Lucky Winner,We are delighted to inform you of your prize release for 2010 from the Australian International Lottery programme.
Which is fully based on an Electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses Your name was attached to ticket number;4706172507056490902 serial number 7741137002 This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows 5-13-33-37-42 bonus number 17,which consequently won the lottery in the second category. You hereby have been approved a lump sum pay of US$500,000.00 (FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) in cash credit file ref: ILP/HW 47509/02 from the total cash prize of US$8,000,000.00 shared amongst eight lucky winners in this category. All participant were selected through a computer balloting system drawn form Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada, Australia,United States,Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our international promotions program which is conducted annually.

This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational 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) fall within our African representative office in Nigeria,West Africa, as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of US$500,000.00 and a brand new HP Pavilion desktop computer which will be released to you from
this regional branch office in Nigeria. We hope with part of your prize,you will participate in our end of year high stakes for US$1.3 Billion international draw.

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE Simply contact our fiducial agent
NAME : Rev Father Francis Williams
EMAIL : francis_2010@w.cn
PHONE : +234-8082310922.

To file for your claim . Please quote your reference, batch and winning number which can be found on the top left corner of this notification as well as your full name, address and telephone number to help locate your file easily. For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize released to you.This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this programme by non-participant or unofficial personnel.

FILL OUT OUR ONLINE VERIFICATION FORM

1.FULL NAMES:....

2.ADDRESS:.......
3.City:...........

4.State:...........

5.Email Address:.....

6.Postcode:..........

7.Country:............

8.SEX:.................

9.AGE:.................

9.OCCUPATION:............

10.TELEPHONE NUMBER:.....

Note, all winnings MUST be claimed before the month runs out ,
otherwise all funds will be returned as Unclaimed and eventually
donated to charity Congratulations once again on your winnings!!!

Best Regards
Richeal Jones (co-coordinator)

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam