419 scam: "Ms. Amanda Stevens"<lotteryoffice564@yahoo.com> EUROPEAN LOTTERY SERVICE,

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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:
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
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.
- poboxoffice@yahoo.co.uk (Yahoo, United Kingdom; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
- invalid. contact prize claim office anthony mgnoli email:poboxoffice@yahoo.co.uk the european lottery service promo corporations e-mail (Yahoo; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "Ms. Amanda Stevens" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lotteryoffice133@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 17:45:29 -0800
Subject: EUROPEAN LOTTERY SERVICE,

EUROPEAN LOTTERY SERVICE

OFFICIAL NOTIFICATION:

It is obvious that this notification will come to you as a surprise, but kindly find time to read it carefully as we congratulate you over your success in the following official publication of results of the E-mail Electronic Online lottery organized by European Lottery Service Promo.

Where your email address emerged as one of the online winning emails in the 2nd category and therefore attracted a cash award of $520,000.00 (Five hundred and Twenty Thousand USD). Our winners are arranged into four categories with different winning prizes accordingly in each category. The online cyber draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 500,000 email addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer selection from the web. No tickets were sold. The winning prizes are as arranged in this format below:

CATEGORY NUMBER'S OF WINNERS WINNERS WINNING PRIZES
1st. 2 winners $650,000.00 USD Each
2nd. 5 winners $520,000.00 USD Each
3rd. 13 winners $110,000.00 USD Each
4th. 27 winners $60,000.00 USD Each

We write to officially notify you of this award and to advise you to contact the assigned processing office immediately upon receipt of this message for more information concerning the verification, processing and eventual payment of the above prize to you.

To file for your claim, Please contact your Validating Officer for VALIDATION of your winning within Two weeks of this winning notification. Winnings that are not validated within Two Weeks of winning notification are termed void and invalid.

CONTACT PRIZE CLAIM OFFICE
Anthony Mgnoli
Email:poboxoffice@yahoo.co.uk

The European Lottery Service Promo Corporations e-mail draw is held periodically and is organized to encourage the use of the Internet and to Prevent Poverty.

CONGRATULATIONS! Once again on behalf of all our staff,

Sincerely,
Ms. Amanda Stevens
lotteryoffice133@yahoo.com.hk

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam