14 DAY TRIAL // The latest 419 scam that circulates via email dupes recipients into thinking that they won a “gold membership status” on Facebook, which qualifies them for a $2.5 million (1.7 million EUR) prize offered by the social media company.
Hoax Slayer informs that the potential victims are not only requested to provide personal information, but they’re also asked for an amount of money allegedly needed to complete the transaction.
Here’s the phony message:
Congratulation!!!
YOUR PROFILE HAS BEEN AWARDED A GOLD MEMBERSHIP STATUS ON FACE BOOK....
We happily announce to you that your profile just completed It's 100% Gold Status membership which has qualified you for an award of $2,500.000.00 (Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars) by Facebook.
You are therefore advised to contact our Executive Secretary for further directives on how to receive your award sum.
Ensure to quote the following information for authentication: Full Names, Address and qualification numbers to the Executive Sec with your Gold Membership Qualification Numbers: (FB-57-20100, BB-456-76FUB)
Contact Person: Mrs. Florence Alison (Executive Secretary).
Payment would be made to you and other qualified members not later than 7 working days from the date of this notification. Facebook Team
As in many cases, those who reply and contact this Executive Secretary are never actually awarded with any prizes, instead they’re trapped in a labyrinth of requests cleverly designed by the fraudsters to make sure that they profit to the maximum from the victims’ naiveté.
Users are advised to be on the lookout for shady emails that promise fabulous prizes from companies that usually don’t have anything to do with lotteries.
In the past we’ve seen fake lottery campaigns that relied on the names and reputations of organizations such as Microsoft, BBC and Nokia, each being created to dupe internauts into thinking that they won millions.
You can check out a previous article on how to identify lottery scams.