419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
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:
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
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.
- +34603300478 (Spain, prepaid mobile phone)
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.
- jamesmarshall_transfermanager@superposta.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: MICROWORD =?iso-8859-1?b?ri4=?= CORPORATION
<info_claimsdepartment2012@superposta.com>
Reply-To: jamesmarshall_transfermanager@superposta.com
Date: Wed, 09 May 2012 05:57:39 -0300
Subject: Your Winning Reference No: KLS/029/2910

MICROWORD ®. CORPORATION
SWEEPSTAKES - GATEWAY INTERNET PROMOTIONS®.
Your Winning Batch No: HLS/LTY/2901
Your Winning Reference No: KLS/029/2910

OFFICIAL WINNING NOTIFICATION.

We are pleased to inform you of the release of the long awaited
results of Sweepstakes promotion organized by Microword Corporation,
in conjunction with the FOUNDATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF SOFTWARE
products, (F.P.S.) held on May 2012, in Madrid Spain. Your email
address emerged as one of the online winnings emails, where by your
email address was automatically generated out from the Internet data
base and was automatically pointing to the S:E: Loterias Y Apuestas
Del Estado Lottery Winning ticket Number 2. 9. 7. 9. 3, which occur
during the computerize rotation of the Microword Store Electo
Mechanical Ballot machine, which makes your email address winner in
the 1st category at the sweepstakes program and therefore attracted a
cash award of 550,000.00 Euro, and additional extra gift (Compaq
Presario c700- Laptop and HP Compaq Color LaserJet CM3530MFP- Printer
Machine) awarded to all lucky winners by the MEDIAMARKT, the Europe´s
Largest retailer for consumer electronics.

To file for the release of your winning you are advice to contact our
Foreign Transfer Manager:

Mr. James Marshall
Tel:0034-603-300-478
Fax:0034-911-820-387
Email: jamesmarshall_transfermanager@superposta.com

The Microword Internet E-mail lottery Awards is sponsored Loterias y
Apuestas del Estado ( Spain National Lottery), consortium of
software promotion companies. The Intel Group, Toshiba, Dell Computers
and other International Companies. The Microword internet E-mail draw
is held periodically and is organized to encourage the use of the
Internet and promote computer literacy worldwide.

Congratulations!!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Yolanda Brandon,
Promotions Manager.
(Group Co-ordinator)

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam