419 scam: "FreeLotto®"<onlinepromo@freelotto.com> From:FreeLotto® - Online Lotto Style Sweepstakes!

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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:
- "million united state 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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "united state dollar" (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.
- 00447024064119

Fraud email example:

From: "FreeLotto®" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrwilliamsford@yahoo.ie>
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2013 20:39:03 -0300
Subject: From:FreeLotto® - Online Lotto Style Sweepstakes!

                                                                                            NOTIFICATION OF WINNING

We are pleased to inform you of the release of the recent results of FreeLotto- Online Lotto Style Sweepstakes held on the 4\6th of October, 2013. You were entered as dependent clients with: Reference Serial Number: F2-003-036 and Batch number FR/45-300-07. Your e-mail attached to the ticket number: 54-20-17-52-34-30 that draw the lucky winning number, which consequently won the Daily new year Jackpot in the first category, in four parts. You have been approved for a payment of US$1,000,000.00 (One Million United State Dollars) in cash credited to file reference number: TFR/9900034943/JPT.

All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions and associations that are listed online. This e-mail promotion takes place every month.

In view of this, your US$1,000,000.00 (One Million United State Dollars) would be released to you by our remittance office in the United Kingdom. Our online promo officer will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your winnings as soon as you contact him by replying this e-mail notification of winning vie e-mail reply.

To claim your winnings, please contact our Online Promo Officer with the information's provided below:

Name: Mr. Williams Ford
(Online Promo Officer)
E-mail: williamsford@freelottoonlinepromo.com
Tel: 00447024064119
     00447024064450

You are to contact our Online Promo officer through his email with the information provided about, please make sure you provide him with him with the information? listed below upon contacting him for claims of your winning:

*NAME IN FULL:
*OCCUPATION:
*DATE OF BIRTH:
*SEX(MALE/FEMALE):
*CONTACT TEL(MOBILE):
*NATIONALITY:
*COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE:
*CURRENT RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:

PLEASE NOTE: You are advised to keep your winning strictly confidential until your winning is processed and received by you. This is to avoid double claiming which could lead to disqualification.

Sincerely,
Kevin J. Aronin
Chairman & CEO

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam