419 scam: Marek Kozlowski <noreply@mail.com> Offer From Kozlowski

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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "huge amount of money" (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)
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
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.
- mare_kozlowski@yahoo.com (Yahoo; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: Marek Kozlowski <noreply@mail.com>
Reply-To: mare_kozlowski@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2012 02:03:12 +0200
Subject: Offer From Kozlowski

Dear Friend,
First, I must apologize in advance if the contents of this email do not meet with your approval; I humbly crave your indulgence.I got your contact from a directory on our library database,which makes me very comfortable to deal with any of you.

My name is Marek Kozlowski, an accountant by profession. I work with one of the lottery companies in England, United Kingdom.

In my capacity as an accountant in my company am involved in the preparation and approval of prizes ledgers to our lottery winners. I have been working with my company for more than 10 years, highly experienced and acquainted with all the financial issues about winnings, out payments and unclaimed winnings.

I am contacting you because we have loads of unclaimed lottery winnings in my company which I would like to take as an opportunity to better my life, by repatriating some of the unclaimed winning funds for myself, as I know that these funds will be cleared and distributed to several sectors, including health, education and charitable causes at the expiry date of claims, if the winner do not come forward to claim their prizes. I cannot make claim to these unclaimed lottery winnings in my name because I work with these lottery organisation is the reason that am contacting you to seek your consent to present you as one of the Lucky winner, so that the proceeds of a winner can be paid to you as the winner based on the information am going to pass on to you if we come to an agreement.

My proposal to you is simple and the reality of it can be read and verified on the yahoo news link below:

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/-1-1bn-unclaimed-Lottery-yahoofinanceuk-52515852.html

If you have a good business plan, we can re-profile the claimed lottery winning funds on it or share the funds in the following ratio: 50% for me, 50% for you out rightly.

I will assure you that all modalities for the successful conclusion of this transaction have
been put in place and it is 100% risk free. I shall ensure that all relevant information and legal documents that may be needed to actualize this transaction will be provided. All I require from you is your honest cooperation and keep the transaction top confidential, to enable us succeed. I guarantee you that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. I would also need you bear with me for not using my company's letter heading to contact you as it's a proposed personal and confidential project between myself and you.

Please note that I am not just looking for anybody to do this with, but a reliable and
trustworthy person, based on the huge amount of money involved in this project.
If you wish to work with me, write back soon and if we can work together, I will give you a detailed explanation on the project and how easy it's going to be for us to claim the
winning and how to begin.

Please reply me by email on this very confidential email (mare_kozlowski@yahoo.com) for now to give me your consent, and then I can provide my personal telephone number in the nearest furture to establish communication with you.

I expect your swift response.
Regards,
Marek Kozlowski

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam