419 scam: "Barr. Anthony A. Marrone"<Barrr. Anthony A. Marrone <Microsoft@engage.microsoft.com>> CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR WINNINGS!!!

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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:
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
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: "Barr. Anthony A. Marrone" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <anthony.marrone@legislator.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2023 17:47:25 -0800
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR WINNINGS!!!

Dear Beneficiary,

As Edwin Castro's authorized representative, I am Anthony A. Marrone of The Marrone Law Firm, P.C . Edwin Castro was the sole recipient of California's record-breaking $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot in November. Early in November, Castro bought a winning lottery ticket in Altadena, California, matching all six drawn numbers. In order to protect his identity and avoid jeopardizing his safety and facial look, Mr. Castro declined to attend the news conference or appear on television. However, he shared a statement that was delivered by lottery official Carolyn Becker.

As the California public school system will receive $156.3 million in additional money and the reward will be distributed to other schools based on average daily attendance records, he said that the California public school system is the true lottery winner. To learn more about Mr. Castro's lottery winnings, see the following link;

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/14/us/powerball-winner-named/index.html

He has chosen to gift $1 million to five different people and nonprofit organizations around the Globe as part of his charitable gesture. If you're receiving this email, it indicates that you are one of the lucky winners who was selected at random. As the legal counsel and representatives, you need to provide me with the details listed below. so that we may move through with the legal processes to get your donation disbursement to your account as soon as possible..

FULL NAME:
SEX:
COUNTRY/CITY:
OCCUPATION:
AGE:
PHONE NUMBER:

I'll be awaiting your response so we can finalize the proceedings as soon as possible.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam