419 scam: "American Online Foundation"<info@americanonlinefoundation.org> ****CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE WON***

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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:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",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)
- "very confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
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.
- keren.vaismarder@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "American Online Foundation" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <undppromo2@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2017 05:56:03 -0700
Subject: ****CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE WON***

Our Dear Lucky Winner,

The America Online Foundation, was established in 1983 by America

Multi-Million Groups, and now currently supported by the United

Nations (UN), European Union (EU). And the Food and Agriculture

Organizations (FAO).

To celebrate 31 years anniversary program, the America Internet

Fund London, together with several national companies and other

relevant authorities in given out a donation of $4,000,000.00 USD

each to eight lucky recipients.

You were selected among the lucky recipients to receive the award

sum of $4,000,000.00 USD as charity donations/aid from AOL

Company.

Companies and sponsors that are sponsoring this award are as

below.

Dell Computer Company.
Toyota Company.
Heineken Company.
Coca-Cola Company.
Bellsouth Technology.

Private individual sponsors.

1) Bill Gate of (United States of America).
2) Roman Abramovich of (Russia Federation).
3) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of (United Kingdom England).
4) Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud of (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia).
5) Warren Buffett of (United States of America).

This online draws was conducted by a random selection of email

addresses from an exclusive list of 881,621 E-mail addresses of

individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated

random computer search from the internet.

However, no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned

to different ticket numbers for representation and privacy.

For Further inquires on how to claim your Prize, contact Mrs Keren Vaismarder of AOL for more details.

Contact Person: Mrs Keren Vaismarder.
(917) 663-5538
Regional Claims Agent. (RCA)
America Online
770 Broadway
New York, NY
10003
Contact Email: keren.vaismarder@aol.com

You Are Required To Forward To Your Agent With The Following

Details:

Beneficiary's Full Name:.....................
Beneficiary's Address:......................
Beneficiary's Country....................... ......
Beneficiary's Occupation .............................
Beneficiary's Phone:...............................
Beneficiary's Age: ..............................
Beneficiary's Sex: ...................

Batch Number : AOL.6457703336444
Winning Number : AOL5283/USES
Ref Number : Lwh AOL7819284DE

Note : Keep your winning information very confidential until your

winning money is transferred to you. This is to avoid double claim of

prize.

Signed.
CEO: Tim Armstrong
AOL Team
Headquarters: New York City, NY, United States of America.

This message is brought to you by the American Online Foundation

©2017.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam