419 scam: "Facebook Lottery Team"<info@facebook.org> CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS!!

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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)
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- "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!

Fraud email example:

From: "Facebook Lottery Team" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <facebookwinners8@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2015 03:57:11 -0800
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS!!

FACEBOOK LOTTERY PROMOTION
(Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg)
Headquarters: 1 Hacker Way (at Bayfront Expy.),
Menlo Park, CA 94025,
United States

Good Day,

We (Facebook Lottery Team) proudly announce! That you have been selected as one of the beneficiaries of Facebook and United Nations Program and the sum $1,000,000.00USD (One Million United State Dollars) have be documented on your behalf with a serial number FB/2015/575061725.

This is yearly program sponsored by Facebook and United Nations, funded by World Bank to enrich people and reduce poverty around the Globe, you're very lucky to be among the beneficiaries of this year and beneficiaries don't have to purchase any ticket to participate in this program.

We are here to assure you that your total sum of {$1000, 000.00} One Million USA Dollars will be transferred to you through our rules of sending money worldwide. You are advice to send your information as follows:

Full Name:.....................................
Age:..............................................
Country:.........................................
Occupation:....................................
Mobile Number:..............................
Address:.........................................
Serial Number..................................

Good Luck
Dr Mark Hudson,
Facebook Lottery Co-Ordinator

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Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam