419 scam: "Agent Tom Jones"<laboratorio@grupoatlasonline.com.br> BMW Promotion Department.

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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.
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: "Agent Tom Jones" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jon.owens@rogers.com>
Date: Sun, 12 May 2013 09:55:02 +0200
Subject: BMW Promotion Department.

The Promotion Department

BMW Group Canada Head Office Richmond Hill Ontario
10171 LESLIE ST,
Richmond Hill,
ON L4S 1P2 CA.

Attn: Beneficiary,

This is to inform you that your email was randomly selected as a recipients of Cash Grant/Donation from the BMW International programs held on the 20Th September 2012 in United Kingdom. In addition, a database of over 250,000 addresses drawn from all continents of the world with each email address attached to a ticket number for clearifications. In other words your Reference Number is BMW:2551256003/23 which was selected among others as BMW online Lottery winners with a cash prize of £650,000.00 (Six hundred and fifty thousand Great British Pounds) and a brand new BMW 5 Series BMW Car.

More so, a certificate of prize claims and some vital documents will be sent along for verifications.

We strongly advise you contact the verification department with your secret pin code x7pwyz2011 and
your Reference Number BMW: 2551256003/23.

Name: Prof Jon Owens
Email: jon.owens@rogers.com

CONGRATULATIONS.!!!

Thanks,
Agent Tom Jones
Online Co-coordinator

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam