419 scam: "Google"<city@signpia.com> (no subject)

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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:
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
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.
- ru.porat03@googlemail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "Google" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ru.porat@outlook.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2017 11:06:06 -0700
Subject:

Google Incorporations®
Belgrave House,
76 Buckingham Palace Road,
London SW1W 9TQ,
United Kingdom.

Your e-mail address winning details:
Ref N0: GUK/877/798/2017
Batch: GUK/699/33/2017

GOOGLE ANNUAL PROMOTION

We wish to congratulate you over your success in the official publication of results of the E-mail electronic online sweepstake organized by Google, in conjunction with the Foundation for the Promotion of Software Products (F.P.S.P) and confirmed by our co-sponsors Visa®/MasterCard® International. Google earns its profit mainly from advertising using their very own Gmail, Gala, Sify e-mail services, Google Maps, Google Apps, Orkut social networking, You Tube video sharing, Google search engine and the Google ancillary services which are all offered to the public for free.

This is to formally inform you that you are among the Ten (10) lucky winners of Category A, E-mail electronic online sweepstake organized by Google. Hence we do believe that with your winning prize, you will continue to be active to the Google search engine/ ancillary services. As you are aware, Google is now the biggest search engine worldwide and in an effort to make sure that it remains the most widely used search engine, we ran an on-line e-mail beta test which your email address won 950,000.00 and you have successfully passed the requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and satisfactory report Test conducted for all on-line winners.

A winning cheque will be issued in your name by the Google Promotion Award Team, and also a certificate of prize claims will be sent along side your winnings cheque.You are therefore advised to contact the chief financial officer of Google Incorporations (Ruth Porat via the below email) with the following details to avoid unnecessary delay and complications.

Google Promotion Award Team
Mrs Ruth Porat
Email: ru.porat03@googlemail.com

VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM.

(1) Your contact address.
(2) Your Tel/Fax numbers.
(3) Your Nationality/Country.
(4) Your Full Name.
(5) Occupation/Age.

Google values your right to privacy! Your information is 100% secured and will be used exclusively for the purpose of this award only.

Congratulations from the Staffs & Members of the Google interactive Lotteries Board
Commission.

Yours Faithfully,
Sundar Pichai
Chief Executive Officer of Google®

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam