419 scam: INFO <dbecker@europa-uni.de> ACKNOWLEDGE EMAIL

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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:
- ",500,000" (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)
- "advocatenwolgangan@aol.nl" (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!

Fraud email example:

From: INFO <dbecker@europa-uni.de>
Reply-To: advocatenwolgangan@aol.nl
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:19:54 -0300
Subject: ACKNOWLEDGE EMAIL

Info Details,

ATTENTION TO THE OWNER OF THIS EMAIL ADDRESS

We are delighted to inform you of our Post Code Lotto prize award held
in Rotterdam.The Netherlands. This lotto awards is fully based on an
electronic selection, Winners were picked by computerized system, drawn
from over 50,000,00 companies and individuals e-mail addresses worldwide.
This award is officially announced in Rotterdam-Netherlands, Your email
ID has hereby been approved alump sum pay out of ?1,500,000 in cash credit
file Ref: GNP501/731KW, Batch: AM72/PGS27/09FC, Winning No: DC61/PDN32/01NL

Note: No ticket was sold in this prize award, winners were randomly
selected from electronic online world wide. Simply contact Our Foreign
Financial Office by email with the following (1)Full name (2)Telephone,
(3) Nationality, for your prize claim immediately.

Dhr.P.W Van Hann
e-mail:advocatenwolgangan@aol.nl

Congratulations! once again.

Yours in service,
Mw. G.D. Ferilaag
(Officer Sec.)

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Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam