419 scam: "Mr. John Thomas"<johnthomas@triolan.ua> Attn: 31/12/2011

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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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million dollars" (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)
- ",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)
- "ecowas " (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
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.
- rebbecawalkr@yahoo.co.jp (Yahoo, Japan; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. John Thomas" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <rebbecawalkr@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:56:33 -0800
Subject: Attn: 31/12/2011

Attn: Beneficiary

We are glad to inform you that your email address has won you the Ecowas E-mail online winning draw in the first winning category A with your Winning Number: ECWS09788. The draw was a free ticket online email address sweeptakes which gets you entitled to claim the sum of $8.3 Million Dollars.

And Yes your email address was selected among the the first category winners and that left you as a winner of the Ecowas E-mail online winning draws and sweeptakes programme.The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list of 29,031E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies. However, no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticket numbers for representation and privacy.

The selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection machine (TOPAZ) from a database of over 1,000,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world.

To finally ascertain you as a rightful receiver of your winning fund of the $8.3 Million Dollars, you are to contact your claim agent Mrs. Rebbeca Walker on the email address (rebbecawalkr@yahoo.co.jp) for quick transfer/delivery of the fund to you without delay:

1. Full names.
2. Country:
3. Contact Address:
4. Telephone, Mobile and Fax numbers if available:
5. Marital Status.
6. Age/Sex:
7. Amount Won:
8. Winning Email:

DECLARATION:

I.....................................Hereby Declear that the above data are true in case of any unforseen circustance, my next of kin has the right to claim the total winnings. (Fiduciary agent shall act as my agent in facilitating the transfer/delivery of the total fund to me. DATE: --------------------------

Congratulations once again on your winnings!!!

Looking forward to your swift response.

Yours Faithfully,

Mr.John Thomas
Co-ordinator

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam