419 scam: "Laura Spears" <info@usa.org> *** SPAM *** Laura Spears MEGA DONATION

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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.

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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.
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Laura Spears" <info@usa.org>
Reply-To: only1lauraspears@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2022 17:03:37 -0700
Subject: *** SPAM *** Laura Spears MEGA DONATION

I'm Laura Spears of Oakland County, Michigan lucky winner!
I purchased a Mega Millions ticket on the Michigan Lottery website for the December 31, 2021, drawing. Where I matched five numbers to win $1 million, plus had the Megaplier to multiply my prize by three. "I saw an ad on Facebook that the Mega Millions jackpot was getting pretty high, so I got on my account and bought a ticket, "then I
told Michigan Lottery officials.
A few days later, I was looking for a missing email from someone, so I checked the spam folder in my email account."
That's when I saw an email from the Lottery saying I had won a prize. I couldn't believe what I was reading,
so I logged in to my Lottery account to confirm the message in the email. It's all still so shocking to me that I really won $3 million!"
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/23/us/michigan-lottery-win-trnd/index.html
I claimed my prize at Lottery headquarters last week, and I intend to share my winnings with 3 individuals with the sum of $400,000 each. This is my way of giving back to the society and I believe this my kind gesture can help the lucky winner. You are the 2nd winner. Your email was selected randomly based on your usage.
Kindly follow the procedure of my team by replying your quick details.

Full Name:
Home Address:
Country/City:
Phone:
D.O.B

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam