Uban International Lotto Scam-bait

gookso0 · #1 05-08-2005, 08:46 PM

Hey all,

I posted about a fourth of this story in another thread, but I thought I would post the entire, full story here, on another thread. Here I will post pretty much every detail that went on for the last 3 weeks or so. I took out all their "emails" for their privacy. If they care at all.

So this is the story. It was just a nice, sunny day (I think) and I was checking my email. Most were junk, but then I noticed one titled: "NOTIFICATION OF WINNING!!" At first, I was like, oh wha?! I even got almost excited that I won $1 million dollars. But I figured it was a scam when the dude who emailed me claimed he was "President" of Direccion.com, a free hispanice email website. Here is the original email sent to me:

FROM: MR GREEN JOHNSON THE DESK OF THE VICE
PRESIDENT.
THE UBAN LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE
AWARD.

BATCH: EGS/ 22504002/04: REFERENCE: 15/0018/IPD

RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION.

This is to inform you of the release of THE UBAN
LOTTERY
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS PRIZE DRAW, held on the 25th
of January 2005, but owing to some mix up of numbers
and addresses and the holidays, the results were
released on the 4th February , 2005.Your name was attached
to ticket number 085-12876077-09 with serial number
51390-0 that drew the lucky numbers of
03-05-12-14-28-38, which consequently won the lottery
in the 5th category. You have therefore been
approved for a lump sum pay of (ONE MILLION US DOLLARS ONLY), in cash
credited to file with REF: Âº.EGS/3662367114/13. This
is from a total cash prize of Â£70,020.225.00, shared
among the (25) twenty-five international winners in
this category.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Your fund is now deposited with our Union Bank
and insured in your name. Due to mix up of some
numbers and names, we ask that you keep this award
from public notice until your claim has been
processed, and the money remitted to your account, as
this is part of our security protocol, to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted taking of advantage
of this program by participants, as has happened in
the past.
All participants were selected through a computer
ballot system drawn from 25,000 names, email addresses
& official addresses, from Asia, Australia, New
Zealand, Europe, North and South America, Middle East
and Africa, as part of our International Promotions
Program.

We hope your lucky name will draw a bigger cash prize
in the subsequent programs. To begin your lottery
claims, please contact your Claims Agent,

MR.MIKE OKORO,
FOREIGN OPERATION MANAGER,
EMAIL: m@yahoo.com
CALL HIM IMMEDIATELY WITH HIS DIRECT PHONE
NUMBER +234-803-878-7918

Remember, all prize money must be claimed not later
than 15th June, 2005. Any claim not made by this date
will be returned to the DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY.
And also be informed that 10% of your lottery winning
belongs to (the PROMOTIONS COMPANY). Because they are
the company that bought your ticket and played the
lottery in your name. Note also that this 10% will be
remitted after you have received your winnings prize,
because the money is insured in your name already.

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, please remember to quote your reference
and batch numbers in all correspondences with us; or
your Claim Agent. Furthermore, should there be any
change of address, please do inform your Claim Agent
as soon as possible. An original copy of your lucky
winning ticket and your deposit certificate will be
sent to you by your Claim Agent, MR MIKE OKORO m@yahoo.com

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Once again from all members of our staff and thank
you for being a part of our International Promotions
program. We wish you continued good fortunes.

Sincerely,

GREEN JOHNSON (MR.),
VICE PRESIDENT,

Direccion.com

Obviously a scam, no? I decided to contact my "claims agent" and see what he had to say. I sent my claims agent this email:

To Mr. Mike Okoro,

I am emailing you about a recent email that was sent to me from
g@direccion.com. I have been awarded a prize, and in order to
claim it, the email told me to contact you. So, how do I claim the
prize?

Sincerely,
Eric

He replied:

Eric Lee,

I am in receipt of your mail. First of all accept my congratulations as you were among the lucky ones to have won in the high category of this cash prize. I wish to inform you that there are procedures to the award payment and the procedures must be followed in total in all payments. I will guide you in this procedure.
To proceed with the claim of the funds I will have to tell you some of the procedures to enable your claim to be faster.

1) I WOULD NEED YOUR COMPLETE NAME AND ADDRESS,

2) I WOULD ALSO NEED YOUR PHONE NUMBER,CELL PHONE NUMBER AND FAX NUMBER FOR TRANSMITION OF DOCUMENTS TO YOU,

3) YOUR AGE, NATIONALITY AND YOUR STATUS (SINGLE OR MARRIED) AND RELIGION.
The above information will be used to secure your prize certificate from the lottery firm as the legal winner and owner of this prize amount. The certificate will also qualify and validate your winning for payment As soon as this certificate is ready, I shall send a copy to you and will also give you the contacts of the payment center so that final arrangement would be made for the payment of your prize money.

Please I want you to always be quick with your response to my mail. I have some other lucky winner to attend to.I await your quick response to this mail with the above requested information. Please include all the needed information while replying this mail. Please indicate the necessary code to your telephone and fax number.
Congratulations once again as I await your prompt response.Please respond in english.
Yours sincerely,

MR. MIKE OKORO
FOREIGN OPERATION MANAGER,
phone: +234-803-878-7918

Well, I was surprised he didn't ask me for my social security, bank account number, my pin code, etc. Talk about identity theft. I replied with:

Mike Okoro,

I am very excited and honored that I have won the prize. I have a few
questions though. How was my email entered into a lottery that I have
never heard of? And is Mr. Green Johnson the vice president of
Direccion.com, a free hispanic email site? What were all the
categories, and what exactly is the "5th category?" And it says, "All
participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from
25,000 names, email addresses
& official addresses," so doesn't that mean you already have my full,
complete "official" address? And who do you work for? Direccion.com?
I didn't know such websites needed a "foreign operation manager."
And Mike, how is the weather in Nigeria?

Eric Lee

You figure, your typical scammers would realize that they've been exposed of fraud and would stop there, but the same night I sent the previous email, I got this reply:

Eric Lee,

Below is your lottery certificate and my international pass port for identification sake,forward your lottery certificate and your banking informations to the paying bank, here is the bank email address below,
unionbankheadoffice@bankersmail.com
also call me with my direct phone number +234-803-878-7918

Mike Okoro.

He even sent my "lottery certificate" and his "passport."

Note the "error" in the certificate. The original email said, "the lucky numbers of 03-05-12-14-28-38." Do you see the 28 in between the 14 and 38 in the "certificate?"

By him sending me these images, he now agreed that I own the right to the pictures, and that I can do whatever I want with them. If he emails me telling me not to, I will take the picture down.

I've been banking with Union Bank for almost a year now, and no where on their website could I find the email "unionbankheadoffice@bankersmail.com" And of course I won't, because Union Bank would put their name as part of the domain name, and not bankersmail.

This is a bit fun. I filed a complaint with the FBI at their site. And, as a bit of fun, I also sent him this email:

Mike Okoro,

Thank you for the lottery certificate and your pass port, for
identification sake. I will provide you with all the information you
requested.

Name: Eirikr Shannanigan Leebowski (my legal name)
Address: 4861 West Venice
Los Angeles, CA 90019
Home: 1-213-473-0476
Cell: 1- 213-972-2971
Fax: 1-877-284-7328
Age: 48
Nationality: Polish/Jewish
Religion: Greek Orthodox
Status: Married, with children

I have attached a copy of my driver's license so you can verify
information for yourself. I will send my banking information to the
given email address.

Please note that is not my actual driver's license. And that is Nick Nolte, not me.

If I remember correctly, the phone number I put there was that of Los Angeles Police Department located in West Venice. And their address too. And I think the fax number was for a Terrorist Threat Hotline.

Oh, and the thing was, when I sent him my "license," I forgot to put my signature on it. I no longer have the image of the original, so I just posted this one.

gookso0 · #2 05-08-2005, 08:59 PM

I think the scammer was buying the crappily fake information I was sending him. He also probably thought I was falling for this scam. Notice how he begins to get more friendly in his emails:

Good day Eric Lee, how are you and your family? hope all is well. i got your email. i want to know if you have sent your certifcate and my passport to the paying bank? if so, i want you to update me as soon as the bank replies you.

Regards,

Mike Okoro.

I told him I was 48, but I never told him anything about my family. How considerate of him to ask about my non-existent family. I kept emailing him back. Basically, every email I sent him was in a very similar format to the ones he sent me.

Good day Mike Orkor, I am doing fine and my family. All is well. I
am sending you this email to let you know that I have sent the
certificate and your passport to the paying bank. I will update you
as soon as the bank replies me.

Regards,

Eric Lee

He replies:

My good friend Eric Lee, im really happy that you have sent the required documents to the bank. cause i want to make sure that your money gets to you inless than 72hours because i have so many clients that im working on right now. Im expecting to hear from you as soon as you have concluded with the bank. My regards to your family and children.

Mike Okoro.

I've now become his "good friend." HAHA. Sorry if it seems boring, but most of the emails that this dude sent me is pretty much the same. I decided to contact their "bank" and see what they wanted me to do.

Union Bank Head Office,

I am forwarding my lottery certificate and Mike Okoro's passport.

Bank replies:

ATTN: ERIC LEE,

YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS FOR THE TRANSFER

(1) IF YOU WANT THE FUND TO BE SEND TO YOU BY CHEQUE,YOU HAVE TO PROVIDE YOU MAILING ADDRESS SO THAT THE BANK WILL SEND THE CHEQUE THROUGH CURRIER SERVICE WITH THE ADDRESS,YOU HAVE TO PAY THE MAILING CHARGE OF 500 DOLLARS.

(2) IF YOU WANT THE MONEY TO BE TRANSFER TO YOUR ACCOUNT,YOU HAVE TO SEND YOUR BANKING INFORMATIONS TO THE BANK TO ENABLE THE BANK TRANSFER THE FUND TO YOUR ACCOUNT,YOU HAVE TO PAY 1,000 DOLLARS FOR THE (C.O.T) THAT IS THE COST OF TRANSFER.

REMEMBER THAT THE MONEY WILL NOT BE REMOVED FROM THE 1,M DOLLARS, BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN INSURED.

IF OPTION ONE IS OK BY YOU OR OPTION TWO,YOU HAVE TO
REPLY IMMEDIATELY TO ENABLE THE BANK TO TELL YOU HOW TO PAY THE MONEY.

REGARDS,

MR FRANK IBEH,
UNION BANK.

$500 or $1000. Hmm.. Quite costly, eh? I did a quick Google search on the name "Frank Ibeh." And guess what, the 2nd search result said he was a "Nigerian Gangster." Maybe it's a different Frank Ibeh. Let's give him the benefit of doubt for now. I reply to the bank:

ATTN: FRANK IBEH,

I CHOOSE OPTION 1. I WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE THE CHEQUE BY MAIL. MY ADDRESS IS:

4861 WEST VENICE
LOS ANGELES, CA 90019
USA

FOR IDENTIFICATION SAKE, I HAVE ALSO ATTACHED MY DRIVER LICENSE.
HOW DO I PAY THE SERVICE CHARGE OF 500 DOLLARS?

REGARDS,

ERIC LEE

And I attached my "driver's license" again. Here it is, just because Nick Nolte rocks.

To get back to our friend Mike, I tell him:

My good friend Mike Okoro, I have sent the requirements to the bank,
and I am waiting for their response. I told them I wanted the cheque
by mail, and I asked for instructions on how to send the required
$500. Please let me know what is happening so that I can quickly send
the money. My regards to your family.

Eric Lee

Oh yea, both the scammer Mike and Union Bank Head Office had Yahoo! emails. Bank said this:

Attn: Eric Lee,

You will send the money through western union money transfer with our banks chief accountants Name, go to any western union office and make the payment.

Receivers name: Iwuala Uche
Address: Imo-State, Nigeria

and forward the following
informations to the bank,to enable us receive the money:

1).Senders name and address
2).Control number
3).Text question and answer

If we receive the whole information,and cash the money, then your cheque will be sent immidiately to the address that you have provided.
We wait your urgent response.

Mr frank Ibeh
Union Bank.

I kinda wanted to tell their local authorities and police about this Frank Ibeh and Iwula or whatever, but I decided it was too much of a hassle for me to deal with Nigerian police. So I thought I would try Yahoo! Email Abuse a try. I will post those later in this entry.

Mike wrote:

Good Day Eric, how are you and your family today? hope all is well? i got your email and understood it, i want to know if you have concluded with the paying bank? please be fast in this ok. bye

Mike Okoro.

In every email, he always asked how I was doing, and whether I have concluded with the bank or not. He wanted me to be "quick" in this all the time. Man, people these days. They should learn to have some patience. So I thought I would stall a few days. Just to see how he responds. He sends me another saying:

Good morning Eric, have you rounded up with the bank? please update me, cause i really want your money to get to you today, be fast in this.

Mike Okoro.

And this:

Dear Eric, how are you? please what is happening? this is the third mail i have sent to you but there is no reply yet, i want to know if you have sent the money to the bank and if your cheque has gotten to you? please you really have to be fast in this ok.

Mike Okoro.

And this, again:

Dear Eric, how are you? please what is happening? this is the third mail i have sent to you but there is no reply yet, i want to know if you have sent the money to the bank and if your cheque has gotten to you? please you really have to be fast in this ok.

Mike Okoro

Lazy bastard sent me his third email twice. Within 7 hours between the last 2 emails.

I was getting bored of his crappy emails, so I responded:

Dear Mike, I am fine. I am sorry for the late response. I have not
sent the money to the bank and my cheque has not gotten to me. I will
not be able to send the money for a week, maybe two or three. Let me
explain to you my situation. It was my wife's birthday five days ago,
so I spent about $3,500 for her present. To top it off, my daughter
got into an accident, and so I spent another $6,000 for the cost. I
have very little money at the moment, but I will get some more money
soon.

Eric Lee

Originally, I was gonna tell him that I got my wife a Segway, but the damn thing was I forgot what it was called when I was writing that email. www.segway.com

So he replies:

Good mornimg eric, first accept my sympathy over your daughters accident, secondly accept my congratulations over your wifes birthday, Eric i hope that you realise im a busy man, i wanted to make sure that your money gets to you before now and you are delaying, please i want you to do anything possible today and make the payment to the bank so that they will transfer your cheque to you today, i just spoke with the bank some minutes ago on phone to ask them if they have sent you your cheque and they said no, that you have not sent the cost of mailing charges to them, please my good friend try and send them the money today ok. im expecting to hear from you immidiately you do that today.

Man, he almost seems like a nice guy. But basically he is demanding I send the money to them quickly. A friend of mine suggested I tell them that they should take the "required c.o.t., that is the cost of transfer" out of my "cheque." So I ask Mike to do so:

Good day Mike, you are very kind to be sympathetic to my daughter's
accident and my wife's birthday. Like I told you, I will not be able
to send in the required fee until a week from now. However, I do have
an idea. I would like to have the $1,000 taken out of my cheque, and
then used for the required fee, and then have the remaining $999,000
sent directly to my account.

Eric Lee

gookso0 · #3 05-08-2005, 09:36 PM

Of course I should let the bank know that I will not be sending them the money any time soon, so I write them:

Attn: Union Bank Head Office

I am sorry for the late response. I cannot send the money through
western union money transfer with your bank's chief accountant name.
I recently spent $3,500 on my wife's birthday, and I spent another
$6,000 or so because my daughter got into an accident. I will pay in
maybe a week or two.

Eric Lee

I thought Mike was impatient. The bank seems equally impatient as well. They wrote back:

ATTN: ERIC LEE,

WE WANT TO KNOW EXACTELY THE DAY YOU ARE MAKING THE PAYMENT TO ENABLE US SEND YOUR MONEY TO YOU? BECAUSE YOUR NAME IS ON THE PAYMENT LIST OF TRANSFER THIS WEEK, YOU ARE THEREFORE GIVING TWO DAYS TO RECIPROCATE TO THIS,

MAKE THE PAYMENT AS WE HAVE INSTRUCTED YOU TO DO,

MR FRANK IBEH

UNION BANK.

Man, they give the lamest excuse. I wrote them:

I cannot give you the exact date that I will be making the payment.

and also:

ATTN: UNION BANK HEAD OFFICE,

I CANNOT TELL YOU EXACTELY THE DAY I AM MAKING THE PAYMENT. BUT I
ASSURE YOU IT WILL NOT BE THIS WEEK UNLESS MR. MIKE OKORO COOPERATES
WITH ME.

Mike decides that this has taken way too long, so he writes me:

Good morning Eric, good to hear from you, let me remind you that your money has been insured and there is no way any amount will be removed from it, so im still advicing you to try your possible best to send the money to the bank so that the will send your cheque to you, please this has taken too long ok.

Mike Okoro.

I guess it did take a long time. I mean, I guess he thought he would have my money within a week, and never contact me ever again after not sending me my prize. I mean, it did take a whole 2 weeks or so, and he got nothing out of me except a fake ID. So I wanted to send him something else. I sent this email:

Good day Mike, it is also good to hear from you, but your emails are
making me suspicious. You seem to want me to rush everything, why is
that? The email that notified me that I won the lotto did not state a
deadline for the transaction fee. But you keep insisting I send the
money quickly. I am starting to doubt whether this is for real or
not. But I will give you a chance. I am sure you are a decent man,
and all you have to do is do one thing for me, and I will take out an
emergency loan of $500 so that I can send it to the bank. Nothing
personal, but I just don't want to lose $500. Please write "Weezer
rocks my socks" on a big sign (a box or something), take a picture of
it, and send it to me. I am a man of my word, so I will send you a
scan of the cheque I will be using in order to get the loan. Check
Into Cash is a company that takes your check, gives you cash, and then
I just need to repay the amount in a month. I will go to Check Into
Cash, get the $500 cash, and then use that to send the money using
western union.

Eric Lee

I told him to take a picture of the Weezer thing because another friend once said that this one scammer was so desperate for money, that when the guy asked him for a picture that said "v-tec rules" or something, the scammer did it. So I figured, if Mike is desperate enough, he will send me a picture that said "Weezer rocks my socks." =w=. I even sent him my "personal check." Man, I love photoshop.

Of course, I sent him a smaller image of that check to make it look more realistic:

So Mike pulls out the innocent act:

Good morning Eric? how are you and your family today? i hope theres is no problem? please eric i do not understand what you wrote in your last email.why it seems i was rushing you was because i wanted to make sure that i have concluded with you so that i can attend to other clients, youre not the only person i handling his winning. so as you said, take your time and when you get the money then you send it to the bank, but i will want you to email them and tell them to give you more time that you are working towards sending the money for the mailing charges to them ok.

Mike okoro.

Bunch of BS. Yahoo! decides to contact me at this point. Earlier, maybe a week or so before receiving the last email from Mike, I sent Yahoo! an email asking to suspend the accounts of Mike and the Union Bank Head Office for involvement in 419 scams. Yahoo! said:

Hello,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.

Unfortunately, your message to us was missing the full Internet headers.
Without the full headers we will be unable to further investigate this
matter.

Email headers are used to deliver a message over the Internet and
contain a record of the specific route that the message took. Full
header information is included in every message that is sent. Depending
on the setup of your email account and/or server, however, this header
information may not be visible or otherwise available to you. Please
consult with your email administrator or email program help information
to determine the availability of this full header information.

At this time, we will need you to forward a copy of the message, as
opposed to sending it as an attachment, because we are currently unable
to accept attachments. Please include the following in your report of
email abuse to assist us in a prompt and full evaluation:

1. Original subject line -- Please forward the email with a subject
identical to the original subject.

2. Complete headers -- Email programs often display abbreviated
headers. To learn how to display the full headers in a Yahoo! Mail
account, please visit the Yahoo! Mail Help Desk at:

http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/c...config-11.html

For non-Yahoo! Mail users, please refer to the URL below for information
on how to get the full headers for your particular email client:

http://www.haltabuse.org/help/headers/index.shtml

3. Complete message body -- Please include the complete, unedited
content of the email message in question. Please do not change or edit
the message in any way.

If reports of email abuse are missing any one of these three items, we
may not be able to further investigate such reports. We appreciate your
efforts in reporting this abuse to Yahoo!.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.

Regards,

Earl

Yahoo! Customer Care
http://www.yahoo.com/

13794109

Ok, so I sent Yahoo! another email, in the format that they request. The damnedest thing happened. Within 24 hours of me sending Yahoo! a second email of complaint, it seems as if Yahoo! suspended both the accounts of Mike and the Union Bank Head Office indefinately. I wrote Mike a looong email explaining my last email to him:

Good afternnon Mike. My family and I are doing well. There are no
problems. You say that, "why it seems i was rushing you was because i
wanted to make sure that i have concluded with you so that i can
attend to other clients, youre not the only person i handling his
winning." But if I remember correctly, there were 25 people who won
the "UBAN INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY." So far, all you have done with me
is send me emails asking me how my family and I were doing, and
whether or not I sent the money to the bank. It takes maybe 5 minutes
to write the email, so if you were attending to all 25 winnners, then
you would've spent about 2 hours total. But this is your job, right?
Spending 2 measly hours to write emails is no excuse.

What I am saying is, Mike, you have lost my trust through your last
several emails. You gave me no deadline, yet you consistently ask I
quickly send the money, and now you are telling me to take my time.
You say you have other people to tend to, but that seems like an
excuse.

You said that you didn't understand my last email, so I will explain
in detail. I wanted you to do something for me, so that you can prove
to me that the UBAN INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY is not a fake, but actually
valid. I mean, I don't want to lose $500, or even $1,000. In my last
email, I asked you to:

- Get something that can be used as a sign (cardboard box, poster paper, etc).
- Write "Weezer rocks my socks" on the sign.
- Take a picture of the sign, with you (Mike) in the picture.
- Send me the picture via email.

In my last email, I also said that if you did the above for me, I
would take out an emergency loan of $500, so that I can use it to send
it to the bank. If you do the above for me, I will use a company
called Check Into Cash. Basically, I give a cheque for $500 to this
company, and they keep the cheque, and they give me $500 in cash for
me to spend. I have to pay back the $500 plus interest to this
company, and they give me my cheque back. I sent you a scan of the
cheque I was going to use in order to get the $500.

I will give you another chance, Mike. If you can prove to me that you
are not trying to cheat me my money, then I will send the bank the
$500, as soon as you send me the picture of what I requested above.
The picture may sound silly, but I chose for you to do something
random so that I can know for sure I can trust you.

If you do not send me what I request, I will forget about the lottery
winnings and not send the bank the transaction fee.

Eric

PS I am sending you the scan of the cheque I will be using to take out
the emergency loan. Think about this carefully.

gookso0 · #4 05-08-2005, 09:36 PM

And immediately, I receive this:

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

m@yahoo.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
PERM_FAILURE: SMTP Error (state 13): 554 delivery error: dd This user doesn't have a yahoo.com account (m@yahoo.com) [-5] - mta204.mail.scd.yahoo.com

I got all excited, so I sent Union Bank Head Office an email. And yep, same response. So it seems both the email accountse have been suspended.

So was this game over for Mike? If you said no, you are correct! 3 days after I get a "delievery status notification," Mike sends me another email, now with a different email address.

Dear Eric, how are you? please i want to know how far you have gone with the bank? has everything been concluded? update me.
Mike Okoro.

This guy doesn't give up, does he? I sent him this email, which was basically the same as the last one, sorta. I mean, he never got my last one, so yea.

Good afternnon Mike. My family and I are doing well. There are no
problems. You say that, "why it seems i was rushing you was because i
wanted to make sure that i have concluded with you so that i can
attend to other clients, youre not the only person i handling his
winning." But if I remember correctly, there were 25 people who won
the "UBAN INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY." So far, all you have done with me
is send me emails asking me how my family and I were doing, and
whether or not I sent the money to the bank. It takes maybe 5 minutes
to write the email, so if you were attending to all 25 winnners, then
you would've spent about 2 hours total. But this is your job, right?
Spending 2 measly hours to write emails is no excuse.

What I am saying is, Mike, you have lost my trust through your last
several emails. You gave me no deadline, yet you consistently ask I
quickly send the money, and now you are telling me to take my time.
You say you have other people to tend to, but that seems like an
excuse. On top of that, you have changed your email address? Why is
that? I tried to email you last time at your old email address, but I
got a reply saying mail delievery failed. I also tried to email the
bank, but it seems as if the bank's email does not work anymore.

You said that you didn't understand my last email, so I will explain
in detail. I wanted you to do something for me, so that you can prove
to me that the UBAN INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY is not a fake, but actually
valid. I mean, I don't want to lose $500, or even $1,000. In my last
email, I asked you to:

- Get something that can be used as a sign (cardboard box, poster paper, etc).
- Write "Weezer rocks my socks" on the sign.
- Take a picture of the sign, with you (Mike) in the picture.
- Send me the picture via email.

In my last email, I also said that if you did the above for me, I
would take out an emergency loan of $500, so that I can use it to send
it to the bank. If you do the above for me, I will use a company
called Check Into Cash. Basically, I give a cheque for $500 to this
company, and they keep the cheque, and they give me $500 in cash for
me to spend. I have to pay back the $500 plus interest to this
company, and they give me my cheque back. I sent you a scan of the
cheque I was going to use in order to get the $500.

I will give you another chance, Mike. If you can prove to me that you
are not trying to cheat me my money, then I will send the bank the
$500, as soon as you send me the picture of what I requested above.
The picture may sound silly, but I chose for you to do something
random so that I can know for sure I can trust you.

If you do not send me what I request, I will forget about the lottery
winnings and not send the bank the transaction fee.

Eric

PS I am sending you the scan of the cheque I will be using to take out
the emergency loan. Think about this carefully.

He either finally figured out that I was just messing with him, or he just got ticked off. Whatever the reason, he replied with this:

Hello Eric, i taught that i have sent you a copy of my international passport ? so if you think that your not convinced with that then you forget it ok, like you said, what iam is your claim agent, my job is to see that your money gets to you, so im not the bank that are demanding the money from you, so my dear if you think that this is not reall then you forget it.

Mike Okoro.

How sweet of him to call me "my dear." Just for that sweet remark, I think I will let him know what he could've done to convince me that this crappily fake scam could've been more realistic.

Hello Mike, you taught you had sent me a copy of your international
passport and you are correct. You have been obviously trying to scam
me of my money. I apologize, but I have known this to be a scam
since the first email you sent me. Just for being so nice to me in
other emails, I will tell you what you couldv'e done to be more
convincing the next time you try to scam someone else.

- First off, don't use Yahoo! email. Any company that can give out
millions of dollars to other people can afford their own email domain.
Use a better email.

- Make sure your "bank" doesn't use Yahoo! email either.

- Tell them where and who you work for. You never did tell me who you
worked for when I asked you in the second email that I sent you.

- Give a more convincing passport. I looked up Nigerian Passports
online, and all of them look different. Your did not look like anyone
else's passport.

- Give a more convincing Lottery Certifcate. Adding the word
"ORIGINAL" to the background of the already crappy looking certificate
doesn't make it look real.

- Make sure the numbers on the certificate match the numbers on the
email. Hint, you forgot to put the 28 in between the 14 and 38 in the
"Lucky NO." part.

- Don't use the "Lottery promotions prize" idea again. No one
promotes a lottery by giving out millions of dollars. That is stupid.
No company likes to lose millions of dollars.

I can't think of any others, but if I do, I will let you know. Thank
you, Mike, and my apologies.

Eric "Eirikr Shannanigan Leebowski" Lee

Any other scammers wanna mess?

eternal_guardian123 · #5 05-09-2005, 04:02 AM

LOL!!!!!!!!! Man you go for it! I got an email like this from a Stella Ellis(Mrs), Online coordinator for THE NATIONAL LOTTERY, Sweepstakes International Program. But then i got told that all correspondence HAS to be with a CHRISTY BLANKETT!she wrote this

ONCE AGAIN CONGRATULATIONS, THE WHOLE OF THE NATIONAL UK LOTTERY STAFF ARE CONGRATULATING YOU, SO PLEASE GET BACK TO ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE WITH THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION TO ENABLE US FILE YOUR CLAIMS.

Then a clearnace form asking for age and marital status but nothing to do with bank details!!! God, these people just won't give up!

jtrombone · #6 06-05-2005, 03:38 PM

Shoot, that guy almost had me. I got concerned when I was asked to send $120 through Western Union, and I was thinking, can't they just do an electronic transfer? He sent me the same things that gookso0 has already posted, maybe different numbers, I didn't check the details after this. I found the Union Bank of Nigeria on line and noticed that it's domain name was unionbankng.com, NOT bankersmail.com, so I searched further and found this web-page. Thanks a lot you guys. I sent Mike this message a few minutes ago:

Sorry about that, I was out on a religious ceremony
where I was converted to Omishism, and we have NO
personal wealth but the clothes on our backs. I'm
sorry, I have to decline this and there will be NO
more messages from me, because in the next 48 hours I
have to destroy all my technological equipment. The
members of Omishism refrain from all technological
advancements and the only source of electricity is
lightning, in other words, we use candels. Sorry
about this inconvenience, I'm sure you worked hard,
but I have to follow my new religious calling.

~Ciao

Jimmy Pete (I hade to legally change my name too).
--- MIKE OKORO wrote:
>
> MR JAMES PETERSON,
>
> I WAS VERY HAPPY YESTERDAY WHEN I HEARD THAT THE
> BANK CONTACTED YOU.I EXPECTED YOUR CALL YESTERDAY AS
> YOU SAID BUT DID NOT HEAR FROM YOU WHY?.FEEL FREE
> WHENEVER YOU WISH TO CALL (AT ANY TIME)I AM AT YOUR
> SERVICE AND I PROMISE TO TRY ALL I CAN TO SEE THAT
> THE CHEQUE GETS TO YOU IN NO DISTANCE TIME.SO MR
> JAMES ALL YOU HAVE TO DO NOW IS TO SEND THE MAILING
> FEE AS YOU WERE INSTRUCTED,SO THAT YOUR CHEQUE WILL
> GET TO YOU ON TIME.THERE'S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT,AS
> SOON AS YOU RECEIVED THE CHEQUE ,PLAESE DO NOT
> HESITATE TO LET ME KNOW.
>
> REGARDS,
> MKE OKORO.

and will proceed to change my email address for securities sake He did get my home address, but no important numbers (Drivers Lisence, SSN, etc) so I don't think he, or they can get much from it.

icetea · #7 08-04-2005, 10:24 PM

this is crazy.... i also got almost the same exact email.... i almost fell for it...... here i pasted the email:

FROM: THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
GREEN JOHNSON (URBAN LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL)PRIZE AWARD DEPT

REF NO: 15/0018/IPD

BATCH NO: EGS/ 22504001/04

ATTN: WINNER.

RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION, FINAL NOTICE.

We are pleased to inform you, that as a result of our
RECENT LOTTERY DRAWS HELD on the 3rd of Jan 2005.Your
e-mail address attached to ticket number:085-12876077-08
with serial number:51390-0 drew lucky
numbers:03-05-12-14-39 which consequently won in
the 5th category.you have therefore been approved for
a lump sum pay of (ONE MILLION US DOLLARS ONLY) in cash
credited to file with REF: º.EGS/3662367114/13.Note
that all participants in this lottery program have
been selected randomly through a computer ballot
system drawn from over 20,000 Officials and 30,000,000
individual email addresses from all search engines and
web sites,from Asia, Australia, New
Zealand, Europe, North and South America, Middle East
and Africa, as part of our International Promotions
Program. This promotional program takes place every
year,and is promoted and sponsored by eminent
personalities like the Sultan of Brunei,Bill Gates of
microsoft inc and other corporate organizations.This
is to encourage the use of the internet and computers
worldwide.

Your fund is now deposited with Union Bank
and insured in your name

For security purpose and clarity,we advise that you
keep your winning information confidential until your
claims have been processed and your money remitted to
your account.This is part of our security protocol to avoid
double claims and unwarranted abuse of this program by
some participants.We look forward to your active
participation in our next 4 million dollars slot.
To begin the processing of your prize you are to
contact your claims agent through our accredited Prize
Transfer agents as stated below:

REV.DR MIKE OKORO
E MAIL: mikeokoro001@yahoo.com
TEL: +234-803-400-1387.If you are calling from USA,THIS IS HOW YOU DIAL +011-234-803-400-1387
CALL HIM IMMEDIATELY WITH HIS ABOVE DIRECT PHONE NUMBER

When you contact him, please provide him with your
secret BATCH NO,SERIAL NO.You are also advised to
provide him with the under listed information as soon
as possible:

1. Name in full
2. Address
3. Nationality
4. Age
5. Occupation
6. Phone/Fax

All winnings must be claimed not later than one month
After the date of this notice.Please note,in order to
avoid unnecessary delays and complications,remember to
quote your reference number and batch numbers in all
correspondence. Furthermore,should there be any change
of address do inform our agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations!!!once more and thank you for being
part of our promotional program.

Remember that 10% of your fund will be going to the lottery organization that played the lottery with peoples name and email addresses.

Sincerely,
MR.GREEN JOHNSON.
VICE PRESIDENT.
URBAN LOTTERY.

Direccion.com
________________________________________________
This mail was sent by Direccion.com 2.0

brat223 · #8 08-19-2005, 02:15 AM

goshhh....i almost fell for the urban lottery international scam too....they sent me too emails already...but when i tried to reply to the Mike guy, his email account did not exist!!! i think the account got suspended again...anyway, had a really good time reading eric lee's story...by the way, do u guys believe sweepstakes to be genuine???

scambuster · #9 08-19-2005, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icetea

Sincerely,
MR.GREEN JOHNSON.
VICE PRESIDENT.
URBAN LOTTERY.

Direccion.com
________________________________________________
This mail was sent by Direccion.com 2.0

Green Johnson?

Scamvictim · #10 08-25-2005, 03:53 AM

Hey! This Dr Mike is still around! He got a bit more clever this time by not using yahoo as part of his email address! Thanks to Eric's story! or otherwise i might be already fell into this stupid fake make up! I mean i was so excited and talked to my girlfriend about this! Anyway, Eirc story was very funny and kept me and my girlfriend extremely entertained on the Thursday night!

Cheers!

Almost a scamvictim!

d0rkybasketcase · #11 08-28-2005, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icetea

this is crazy.... i also got almost the same exact email.... i almost fell for it...... here i pasted the email:

FROM: THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
GREEN JOHNSON (URBAN LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL)PRIZE AWARD DEPT

REF NO: 15/0018/IPD

BATCH NO: EGS/ 22504001/04

ATTN: WINNER.

RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION, FINAL NOTICE.

We are pleased to inform you, that as a result of our
RECENT LOTTERY DRAWS HELD on the 3rd of Jan 2005.Your
e-mail address attached to ticket number:085-12876077-08
with serial number:51390-0 drew lucky
numbers:03-05-12-14-39 which consequently won in
the 5th category.you have therefore been approved for
a lump sum pay of (ONE MILLION US DOLLARS ONLY) in cash
credited to file with REF: º.EGS/3662367114/13.Note
that all participants in this lottery program have
been selected randomly through a computer ballot
system drawn from over 20,000 Officials and 30,000,000
individual email addresses from all search engines and
web sites,from Asia, Australia, New
Zealand, Europe, North and South America, Middle East
and Africa, as part of our International Promotions
Program. This promotional program takes place every
year,and is promoted and sponsored by eminent
personalities like the Sultan of Brunei,Bill Gates of
microsoft inc and other corporate organizations.This
is to encourage the use of the internet and computers
worldwide.

Your fund is now deposited with Union Bank
and insured in your name

For security purpose and clarity,we advise that you
keep your winning information confidential until your
claims have been processed and your money remitted to
your account.This is part of our security protocol to avoid
double claims and unwarranted abuse of this program by
some participants.We look forward to your active
participation in our next 4 million dollars slot.
To begin the processing of your prize you are to
contact your claims agent through our accredited Prize
Transfer agents as stated below:

REV.DR MIKE OKORO
E MAIL: mikeokoro001@yahoo.com
TEL: +234-803-400-1387.If you are calling from USA,THIS IS HOW YOU DIAL +011-234-803-400-1387
CALL HIM IMMEDIATELY WITH HIS ABOVE DIRECT PHONE NUMBER

When you contact him, please provide him with your
secret BATCH NO,SERIAL NO.You are also advised to
provide him with the under listed information as soon
as possible:

1. Name in full
2. Address
3. Nationality
4. Age
5. Occupation
6. Phone/Fax

All winnings must be claimed not later than one month
After the date of this notice.Please note,in order to
avoid unnecessary delays and complications,remember to
quote your reference number and batch numbers in all
correspondence. Furthermore,should there be any change
of address do inform our agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations!!!once more and thank you for being
part of our promotional program.

Remember that 10% of your fund will be going to the lottery organization that played the lottery with peoples name and email addresses.

Sincerely,
MR.GREEN JOHNSON.
VICE PRESIDENT.
URBAN LOTTERY.

Direccion.com
________________________________________________
This mail was sent by Direccion.com 2.0

ok, now this is the third one that looks similar to the original post by gookso0 except the email i just got, is EXACTLY like the one i just quoted. here, i'll paste the email that i just recently got...

Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 19:55:38 -0000
From: URBAN LOTTERY Add To Address Book | This is Spam
Subject: AWARD NOTIFICATION

FROM: THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
GREEN JOHNSON (URBAN LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL)PRIZE AWARD DEPT

REF NO: 15/0018/IPD

BATCH NO: EGS/ 22504002/04

ATTN: WINNER.

RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION, FINAL NOTICE.

We are pleased to inform you, that as a result of our
RECENT LOTTERY DRAWS HELD on the 3rd of Jan 2005.Your
e-mail address attached to ticket number:085-12876077-09
with serial number:51390-0 drew lucky
numbers:03-05-12-14-38 which consequently won in
the 5th category.you have therefore been approved for
a lump sum pay of (ONE MILLION US DOLLARS ONLY) in cash
credited to file with REF: º.EGS/3662367114/13.Note
that all participants in this lottery program have
been selected randomly through a computer ballot
system drawn from over 20,000 Officials and 30,000,000
individual email addresses from all search engines and
web sites,from Asia, Australia, New
Zealand, Europe, North and South America, Middle East
and Africa, as part of our International Promotions
Program. This promotional program takes place every
year,and is promoted and sponsored by eminent
personalities like the Sultan of Brunei,Bill Gates of
microsoft inc and other corporate organizations.This
is to encourage the use of the internet and computers
worldwide.

Your fund is now deposited with Union Bank
and insured in your name

For security purpose and clarity,we advise that you
keep your winning information confidential until your
claims have been processed and your money remitted to
your account.This is part of our security protocol to avoid
double claims and unwarranted abuse of this program by
some participants.We look forward to your active
participation in our next 4 million dollars slot.
To begin the processing of your prize you are to
contact your claims agent through our accredited Prize
Transfer agents as stated below:

REV.DR MIKE OKORO
E MAIL: mike_private4@yahoo.com
TEL: +234-803-400-1387
CALL HIM IMMEDIATELY WITH HIS ABOVE DIRECT PHONE NUMBER,IF YOU ARE CALLING FROM (USA) THIS IS HOW YOU DIAL +011-234-803-400-1387

When you contact him, please provide him with your
secret BATCH NO,SERIAL NO.You are also advised to
provide him with the under listed information as soon
as possible:

1. Name in full
2. Address
3. Nationality
4. Age
5. Occupation
6. Phone/Fax

All winnings must be claimed not later than one month
After the date of this notice.Please note,in order to
avoid unnecessary delays and complications,remember to
quote your reference number and batch numbers in all
correspondence. Furthermore,should there be any change
of address do inform our agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations!!!once more and thank you for being
part of our promotional program.

Bear it in mind that you will give 10% of your fund to the urban lottery after you must have received your fund in your account,because they were the company that played the lottery with peoples email addresses including yours.

Sincerely,
MR.GREEN JOHNSON.
VICE PRESIDENT.
URBAN LOTTERY.

Direccion.com
________________________________________________
This mail was sent by Direccion.com 2.0

if you read all three emails, you will notice that the EXACT same numbers are used, except maybe the last number from each "ticket number" and the email address that was provided. on top of that, first, he was only "Mr. Mike Okoro" and now, all of a sudden, he is a Reverend Doctor? how does that happen? also, if you pay real close attention to the details of all the emails that have been posted on this thread, as well as those on other threads, there are quite a few grammatical and spelling errors. you'd think that some big company like this would know how to use spell check before sending out an email. it just looks fake, and unprofessional. the reason that I almost fell for it was because i recieved the email through my college email. I have a regular email on my yahoo account, but UC Riverside gives all of their students a personal email so that the school can send them notifications and other important information that we need to keep up to date with. so when the email said "award notification" as the title, i assumed it was some sort of money from the school. of course, it made no sense, because i had just finished taking care of all of my financial aid. anyway, i just think it's crazy that they can hack into everyone emails like that, including private email addresses provided to you by your school. it's ridiculous and should be stopped. the reason i posted the email i recieved was not only so you guys can read it, but if the FBI is really looking into this, since gookso0 said he filed a complaint, i think it would be helpful if they saw similar emails being sent out to multiple people. wow, i'm really glad i looked into this as soon as i thought something was supicious. all i had to do was search "urban lottery" on yahoo, and then i got to this thread, registered, and now i'm posting this reply. anyway, for anyone else who reads this is in the future, i hope none of you got scammed, and that you realized that this so-called lottery was a scam before it was too late.

- melissa

ps. props to gookso0 for fake replying this guy, and most of all for using nick nolte's mug shot as his picture on his driver's license.

cinden · #12 09-06-2005, 06:26 PM

Yeah, I got this email, too, just a few days ago. Mr. Rev. Dr. Okoro's yahoo account still doesn't work. I've also been getting these emails through my UC Riverside account for months, and I just always figured they were scams because: 1) As already mentioned, terrible spelling and grammar, and 2) It says that "All winnings must be claimed not later than one month
After the date of this notice". If that's so, why have they been sending me emails, all the same, for over four months? Well, whatever. And Melissa, is there someone we should be telling about this at UCR?

Eniac · #13 09-07-2005, 01:23 AM

Good work, gookso0! :D

You should publish your bait in the 419Eater forum.

Eniac

Mimoza · #14 09-13-2005, 08:16 AM

Hello everyone,
Thanks very much Eric. I also almost fell for this BS. Fortunately, I checked out this site and found a very interesting and funny story from you. Look out for this "Dr. Okoro". He is still trying hard to get people money.
In my last mail to him, I attached the link to this site with the hope that he will stop. Don't know if that is a good idea!!!
Here is the stuff from him

FROM: THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
GREEN JOHNSON (URBAN LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL)PRIZE AWARD DEPT
REF NO: 15/0018/IPD
BATCH NO: EGS/ 22504002/04

ATTN: WINNER.

RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION, FINAL NOTICE.

We are pleased to inform you, that as a result of our
RECENT LOTTERY DRAWS HELD on the 3rd of Jan 2005.Your
e-mail address attached to ticket number:085-12876077-09
with serial number:51390-0 drew lucky
numbers:03-05-12-14-38 which consequently won in
the 5th category.you have therefore been approved for
a lump sum pay of (ONE MILLION US DOLLARS ONLY) in cash
credited to file with REF: º.EGS/3662367114/13.Note
that all participants in this lottery program have
been selected randomly through a computer ballot
system drawn from over 20,000 Officials and 30,000,000
individual email addresses from all search engines and
web sites,from Asia, Australia, New
Zealand, Europe, North and South America, Middle East
and Africa, as part of our International Promotions
Program. This promotional program takes place every
year,and is promoted and sponsored by eminent
personalities like the Sultan of Brunei,Bill Gates of
microsoft inc and other corporate organizations.This
is to encourage the use of the internet and computers
worldwide.
Your fund is now deposited with Union Bank
and insured in your name

For security purpose and clarity,we advise that you
keep your winning information confidential until your
claims have been processed and your money remitted to
your account.This is part of our security protocol to avoid
double claims and unwarranted abuse of this program by
some participants.We look forward to your active
participation in our next 4 million dollars slot.
To begin the processing of your prize you are to
contact your claims agent through our accredited Prize
Transfer agents as stated below:

REV.DR MIKE OKORO
E MAIL: mikeokoro010@yahoo.com
TEL: +234-803-400-1387
CALL HIM IMMEDIATELY WITH HIS ABOVE DIRECT PHONE NUMBER

When you contact him, please provide him with your
secret BATCH NO,SERIAL NO.You are also advised to
provide him with the under listed information as soon
as possible:
1. Name in full
2. Address
3. Nationality
4. Age
5. Occupation
6. Phone/Fax

All winnings must be claimed not later than one month
After the date of this notice.Please note,in order to
avoid unnecessary delays and complications,remember to
quote your reference number and batch numbers in all
correspondence. Furthermore,should there be any change
of address do inform our agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations!!!once more and thank you for being
part of our promotional program.
Bear in mind that 10% of your fund will be going to the lottery organization that played the lottery with peoples name and email addresses that should be after you most have received the fund in your account,the 10% would have been given to the urban lottery before transfering the fund to you,due to it has been insured and will not be removed till you receive the fund in your account.

Sincerely,
MR.GREEN JOHNSON.
VICE PRESIDENT.
URBAN LOTTERY.
Direccion.com

Below attachemnt is your winning certificate and my international passport for identification sake.

Forward your winning certificate and your banking information to the bank to enable them transfer the fund to your account.

Here is the bank email address ubn_plc_01@accountant.com

Here is the bank phone number +234-802-549-2463
Congratulations...
Rev (Dr) Mike Okoro

________________________________________________
This mail was sent by Direccion.com 2.0

mizio · #15 10-07-2005, 04:33 PM

Hello,

I also recently received the same email notifying of a winning like the other ones posted. I contacted the guy, Dr. Uba (who is also from Nigeria) with these info: full name, phone #, address, nationality, occupation, age. Fortunately when I received a follow-up email from him w/ a copy of a very fake-looking winning ticket, I decided to look this lottery up on the internet and found this site. I have a question: has anyone send out the type of personal info that I did and has anything happened? He has tried to contact me on my phone (cell) but since it showed up as an unknown #, I did not pick up. I doubt that he can do much w/ my address and full name, but since there are so many incidents of identity theft out there, I am a bit worried. Another thing is that I also received this email through my university email account. Should I take any preventive measures? Please give me any advice if you've been through the same situation. THanks!

sandrinevache · #16 10-11-2005, 12:01 PM

Hey, i just got an almost identical email from yours. First of all, i dont remember entering and lottery ever before so i immediately knew something was up. in addition to that, the emails posted on the emails were not legitimate for major corporations who would "give out" cash like that. In fact, no one gives away free money! Since i didn't see any indication from them to forward them any money in order to receive the check, i decided to check out the Uban International Lottery, and that is how i came across you and scam.com. I do wonder, however, how they got my school's email address. I thought this email address was private! someone should really let the authorities know about this, any half wit would fall for it.

sandrinevache · #17 10-11-2005, 12:08 PM

It's me again. i can't help but notice that most of these emails were sent to UC students, at their school's address. I am a UC student as well.... how did this happen?

CindyUNI · #18 10-16-2005, 06:46 PM

Thanks to Eric and this forum I did not fall for this scam either. Thanks. It seems that Mike figured out that people were catching on to his game and changed a few things such as some names and email address. Check out what I recieved today in my university e-mail.

FROM: THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT JOHN WILTORD

(URBAN LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL) PRIZE AWARD DEPT

REF NO: 15/0018/IPD

BATCH NO: EGS/ 22504002/04

ATTN: WINNER.

RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION, FINAL NOTICE.

We are pleased to inform you, that as a result of our RECENT LOTTERY DRAWS HELD on the 3rd of August 2005.Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:085-12876077-09 with serial number: 51390-0 drew lucky numbers:03-05-12-14-38 which consequently won in the 5th category. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay of (ONE MILLION US DOLLARS ONLY) in cash credited to file with REF: º. EGS/3662367114/13.Note that all participants in this lottery program have been selected randomly through a computer ballot system drawn from over 20,000 Officials and 30,000,000 individual email addresses from all search engines and web sites,from Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, North and South America, Middle East and Africa, as part of our International Promotions Program. This promotional program takes place every year,and is promoted and sponsored by eminent personalities like the Sultan of Brunei, Bill Gates of mikrosoft inc and other corporate organizations.This is to encourage the use of the internet and computers worldwide.

Your fund is now deposited with the Central Bank and insured in your name for security purpose and clarity,we advise that you keep your winning information confidential until your claims have been processed and your money remitted to your account.This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claims and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants.We look forward to your active participation in our next 4 million dollars slot.

To begin the processing of your prize you are to contact your claims agent through our accredited Prize Transfer agents as stated below:

DR. MIKE OKORO

E MAIL: mikeokoro123@mail.md

TEL: 011+234-803-497-5620

CALL HIM IMMEDIATELY WITH HIS ABOVE DIRECT PHONE NUMBER

When you contact him, please provide him with your secret BATCH NO,SERIAL NO.You are also advised to provide him with the under listed information as soon as possible:

1. Name in full :

2. Address

3. Nationality

4. Age

5. Occupation

6. Phone/Fax

7. Sex

8. Marital Status

All winnings must be claimed not later than one month after the date of this notice.Please note,in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications,remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all correspondence. Furthermore,should there be any change of address do inform our agent as soon as possible. Congratulations!!! once more and thank you for being part of our promotional program.

Sincerely,

MR.JOHN WILTORD.

VICE PRESIDENT ( URBAN LOTTO INTERNATIONAL).

N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to disqualification. Please do not reply to this mail. Contact your claims agent immediately.

Direccion.com
________________________________________________
This mail was sent by Direccion.com 2.0

There are a few things that had me skeptical about this email:
1. I didn't enter in any lotto
2. This my school e-mail, I never get any mail in here that I am not expecting
3. Breach of confidentiality results in disqualification?
4. mikrosoft?
Thanks again for everyone that posted this scam because otherwise I might have wasted time looking into this more. Also I am not sure about the whole process of getting someone banned from e-mails so if someone knows how to do this they should get this e-mail address banned too. Also I noticed that this was forwarded to many UNI students as well so beware this is all B.S.

jefferso · #19 10-26-2005, 06:27 AM

Oh wow,
Alright, so when I got this e-mail, at my university account at the University of Northern Iowa, part of me knew that it was a fake. So the first thing I did was send this mike guy an e-mail ....here it is...it basically said "hey, what is the fine print..I know that I can't win a million dollars without doing anything." So then he sent me an e-mail back assuring me that I would be fine...so i sent him the information...

That's when he sent me the certificate and passport. Here's the kicker, it's the exact same certificate, same numbers, same everything as the one that our friend was sent on this site...I would have attached, but the attachment deal told me it was too large. Too bad... Geez, this almost makes me feel cheap, can't I at least have some new numbers?

And then when I saw that the man was from nigeria, i knew then for sure that it was a scam. The bank address was from mixmail.com, another free spanish email site.

:eek: Watch out though! :eek: There is no longer a choice of check or direct deposit. He's going straight for the $1000 dollars now! (at least i'm assuming from what i've read, i haven't gotten that far yet that he's asked me to send money) The next email asked me to send my bank account information to this bank along with the certificate and passport. I sent him an e-mail then that said "um, hey, I don't really feel comfortable sending this information over the internet to someone I don't know...this is what he sent back:

There is no way a check can be issued to you because the instruction giving by the urban lottery is that all winners should receive there fund through wire transfer not by check so you have been advice to forward your winning certificate and your banking information to the bank to enable them transfer the fund into your account.

But if you are not ok by that you have to open a new account for the transfer, but i am given you 100% assurance that nothing is going to happen to your information.

Here are the information you will send to t5he bank for the transfer:

Your Bank Name
Your Account Number.

Another bank account? Is this guy for real? seriously!

I just sent him another e-mail that basically said, "I'm still not sure that I trust you. Who do you work for? I would like to know who is sending me 1 million dollars, and also what is your doctorate in? What are you a reverend of?" So I will keep you posted on what he says next! Don't fall for these jerks!

Cristina J.

jefferso · #20 10-26-2005, 10:50 PM

Alright, here is the next e-mail:

First of all,i am an anglican Reverened and am also a clain agent of the urnab lottery.I'm just your claim agent who will direct you on how to receive your fund,am not the one that is going to pay you your fund is the bank that is going to transfer your fund that is the reason why your banking information is needed.

If you are not sending the information,your fund will be cancelled.

Secondly,am a medical doctor.

Rev(Dr) Mike Okoro.

I wonder if his patients know that he's a scam artist...I wonder how much money he scams from them...what a loser!

Bocephus · #21 10-30-2005, 03:22 PM

I just received this email through my shool's email account at Oklahoma State. Actually, I received two of them and the only difference between the two was one was from:

URBAN LOTTERY PROMOTION [green05@direccion.com]

sent on 10-23-05 and the other was sent on 10-26-05, from:

URBAN LOTTO INTERNATIONAL [jwiltord@civil.net]

Both of them look exactly the same as the one that gookso0 and everyone else has been posting with the exact same "lucky numbers" attached to my email address. And also both of them started out saying 'Final Notice' which seemed odd since I got both if them in the same week. But oh well, I guess all I can do is contact our school's email server admin and maybe the school's newspaper. You never know what those freshman might fall for.

Many props out to gookso0 though for posting this thread, it was the only thing found related to my "Notification" after I googled 'urban lottery'. Thanks alot guys.

Dayn55 · #22 11-12-2005, 09:26 PM

Got mine today, The guy is still at it! and he is a VP now!

__________________________________________________ ___________

FROM: MR MALIK THE DESK OF THE VICE
PRESIDENT.
THE UBAN LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE
AWARD.

BATCH: EGS/ 22504002/04: REFERENCE: 15/0018/IPD

RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION.

This is to inform you of the release of THE UBAN
LOTTERY
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS PRIZE DRAW, held on the 25th
of January 2005, but owing to some mix up of numbers
and addresses and the holidays, the results were
released on the 4th February , 2005.Your name was
attached
to ticket number 085-12876077-09 with serial number
51390-0 that drew the lucky numbers of
03-05-12-14-28-38, which consequently won the lottery
in the 5th category. You have therefore been
approved for a lump sum pay of (ONE MILLION US
DOLLARS ONLY), in cash
credited to file with REF: Âº.EGS/3662367114/13. This
is from a total cash prize of Â£70,020.225.00, shared
among the (25) twenty-five international winners in
this category.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Your fund is now deposited with our Union Bank
and insured in your name. Due to mix up of some
numbers and names, we ask that you keep this award
from public notice until your claim has been
processed, and the money remitted to your account, as
this is part of our security protocol, to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted taking of advantage
of this program by participants, as has happened in
the past.
All participants were selected through a computer
ballot system drawn from 25,000 names, email addresses
& official addresses, from Asia, Australia, New
Zealand, Europe, North and South America, Middle East
and Africa, as part of our International Promotions
Program.

We hope your lucky name will draw a bigger cash prize
in the subsequent programs. To begin your lottery
claims, please contact the bank
email:unionbank_1nigeriaplc@yahoo.com

Remember, all prize money must be claimed not later
than 20TH OF NOV, 2005. Any claim not made by this
date
will be returned to the DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY.
And also be informed that 10% of your lottery winning
belongs to (the PROMOTIONS COMPANY). Because they are
the company that bought your ticket and played the
lottery in your name. Note also that this 10% will be
remitted after you have received your winnings prize,
because the money is insured in your name already.

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, please remember to quote your reference
and batch numbers in all correspondences with us.
Furthermore, should there be any
change of address, please do inform the bank
as soon as possible. An original copy of your lucky
winning ticket and a form will be sent to be the bank
email:unionbank_1nigeriaplc@yahoo.com

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Once again from all members of our staff and thank
you for being a part of our International Promotions
program. We wish you continued good fortunes.

Sincerely,
MALIK(MR)
VICE PRESIDENT

greeneye33033 · #23 11-20-2005, 01:17 AM

First of let me say that there is no such thing as a free ride or easy money these days.(pretty smart for a woman, huh? )
Well, looks like as when he just keeps on going. I received a Message from the Uban Lottery, but I guess they fired all the former guys sending out letters, because now Prince ( and get this!!!!) Kennedy is in charge. Mike has another Yahoo address, so I guess everyones advice to him, has not won any Land so far. LOL.
Here is my version:

From: prince kennedy
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
To: deleted
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Length: 1768

FROM: PRINCE KENNEDY
THE DESK OF THE VICE
PRESIDENT. THE UBAN LOTTERY
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE
AWARD.

BATCH: EGS/ 22504002/04: REFERENCE: 15/0018/IPD

RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION.

This is to inform you of the release of THE UBAN
LOTTERY
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS PRIZE DRAW, held on the 25th
of August 2005, but owing to some mix up of numbers
and addresses and the holidays, the results were
released on the 4th October, 2005.Your name was
attached
to ticket number 085-12876077-09 with serial number
51390-0 that drew the lucky numbers of
03-05-12-14-28-38, which consequently won the lottery
in the 5th category. You have therefore been
approved for a lump sum pay of (ONE MILLION US
DOLLARS ONLY), in cash
credited to file with REF: º.EGS/3662367114/13. This
is from a total cash prize of £70,020.225.00, shared
among the (25) twenty-five international winners in
this category.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Your fund is now deposited with our Zenith Bank
and insured in your name. Due to mix up of some
numbers and names, we ask that you keep this award
from public notice until your claim has been
processed, and the money remitted to your account, as
this is part of our security protocol, to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted taking of advantage
of this program by participants, as has happened in
the past.
All participants were selected through a computer
ballot system drawn from 25,000 names, email addresses
& official addresses, from Asia, Australia, New
Zealand, Europe, North and South America, Middle East
and Africa, as part of our International Promotions
Program.
We hope your lucky name will draw a bigger cash prize
in the subsequent programs. To begin your lottery
claims, please contact your Claims Agent,
MR.MIKE OKORO,
FOREIGN OPERATION MANAGER,
EMAIL: mikeokoro1@walla.com
CALL HIM IMMEDIATELY WITH HIS DIRECT PHONE
NUMBER +234-803-878-7918

Remember, all prize money must be claimed not later
than 30th November, 2005. Any claim not made by this
date
will be returned to the DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY.
And also be informed that 10% of your lottery winning
belongs to (the PROMOTIONS COMPANY). Because they are
the company that bought your ticket and played the
lottery in your name. Note also that this 10% will be
remitted after you have received your winnings prize,
because the money is insured in your name already.
NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, please remember to quote your reference
and batch numbers in all correspondences with us; or
your Claim Agent. Furthermore, should there be any
change of address, please do inform your Claim Agent
as soon as possible. An original copy of your lucky
winning ticket and your deposit certificate will be
sent to you by your Claim Agent, MR MIKE OKORO
mikeokoro1@walla.com

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Once again from all members of our staff and thank
you for being a part of our International Promotions
program. We wish you continued good fortunes.

Sincerely,
PRINCE KENNEDY(MR.),
VICE PRESIDENT,

Now at first I thought it is one of those phone scams, where you call a number and it ends up being in the carribean and charges you a gezillion $$ a minute to call. Since I have the fortune of recovering from surgery and have my hands full all day every day eating Bonbons and watching Oprah, I decided to take time out of my obvious busy schedule and emailed Good ol'e Prince Kennedy:

Please make arrangements to have to funds send top me via Paypal. Please contact me when you have done so, and are prepared to immediately submitt the funds, at this address.
Thanks,
Greeneye33033
So I guess Prince figured I am just to ignorant to correctly respond to the right email address, and I receive an email from Mike within a short time after I send mine out to Prince:
mike okoro wrote:
Dear Winner,

I am in receipt of your mail. First of all accept my
congratulations as you were among the lucky ones to
have won in the high category of this cash prize. I
wish to inform you that there are procedures to the
award payment and the procedures must be followed in
total in all payments. I will guide you in this
procedure.
To proceed with the claim of the funds I will have to
tell you some of the procedures to enable your claim
to be faster.

1) I WOULD NEED YOUR COMPLETE NAME AND ADDRESS,

2) I WOULD ALSO NEED YOUR PHONE NUMBER,CELL PHONE
NUMBER AND FAX
NUMBER FOR TRANSMITION OF DOCUMENTS TO YOU,

3) YOUR AGE, NATIONALITY, OCCUPATION AND YOUR STATUS
(SINGLE OR MARRIED) AND RELIGION.

The above information will be used to secure your
prize certificate from the lottery firm as the legal
winner and owner of this prize amount. The certificate
will also qualify and validate your winning for
payment As soon as this certificate is ready, I shall
send a copy to you and will also give you the contacts
of the payment center so that final arrangement would
be made for the payment of your prize money.
Please I want you to always be quick with your
response to my mail. I have some other lucky winner to
attend to.I await your quick response to this mail
with the above requested information. Please include
all the needed information while replying this mail.
Please indicate the necessary code to your telephone
and fax number.

Congratulations once again as I await your prompt
response.Please respond in english.

Yours sincerely,
MR. MIKE OKORO
CLAIMS AGENT
PHONE: +234-803-878-7918

My reply to Mike:
Seems to me that you already have my name, and should also have my Address, since I am not aware of anyone entering my name and information into a Drawing. Please provide me with name, address and any and all information on the person/company that entered me into the drawing for verification purposes.

Sincerely,
Greeneye33033
It didn't take long and I heard from Mike again:
Hello,
All participants were selected through a computer
ballot system drawn from 25,000 email addresses
& official addresses, from Asia, Australia, New
Zealand, Europe, North and South America, Middle East
and Africa, as part of our International Promotions
Program.

You are therefore adviced to provide me with the
informations required to enable me to start processing
your winning certificate which you will forward to the
paying Bank to enable them transfer your winning into
your account.

I dont want you to get back to me without the required
informations.

Mike

Again I replied:
Please disclose to me the Company that helt the drawing including their business address. Also please disclose the details of the account that is holding my Winnings.
Unless this is a scam and you have something to hide, you shouldn't have a problem submitting the requested information to me. Since you want a lot of personal information, I believe it is in the best interest of all parties that I ensure the safe handling of my personal Data.
So please be so kind and disclose all information to me that I will need to comfirm your Statement with the Zenith Bank.

Which caused the following response from Mike:
Hello Ira,

The name of the organisation is Uban Lottery
International Promotions
1/2 Nnamdi Azikiwe Street V/Island Lagos Nigeria.

Your second question about the details of your
account, i do not have
access to the account, your money is been deposited
with Zenith Bank of
Nigeria and they can not give out any informations
unless you tendered
your winning certificate to them. Tha is why the
informations that i asked
you to provide will be needed to process your winning
certificate.

As soon as you send the informations i will process
your winning certificate
and send it to you to forward to the paying bank ok.

Remember that all claims will end on the 30th of this
month, any amount
that is unclaimed will be returned to the lottery
company as unclaimed
act fast.

So that is where we are at now. Upon this email I researched with a few diff. Search characters and found this site. I just about fell of my chair laughing while reading postings above. Since I am so terribly busy keeping the seat of my chair warm, I guess I can take a break and reply to the nice guy Mike. We'll see how far this will go I guess.
Isn't it funny how intelligently unavailable people always think that they are smarter than everyone else???
Unfortunately I am not that handy with the photoshop (ROFLMAO), so I guess I will have to make due with what I got.

Azland · #24 12-17-2005, 10:07 PM

I got this identical scam in my student e-mail (I am 37 and a returning student). I *almost* fell for it, as the first three e-mails didnt ask for any personal info, 'cept for name, address, phone number, religion...the list asked for before. Then I was asked for my banks routing/account info. they didnt ask for anything upfront. No fees of any kind. I replied that I didnt have any bank accounts, and that I looked up Nigerian law, and US law, and them cutting me a check, and not doing an electronic funds transfer would not violate any laws, and that I would take care of taxes myself. That was almost a week ago, and I havent heard anything back.

I got the same certificate, and passport pics....

From: "mike okoro"
and he's got a new yahoo address

calipimp2005 · #25 01-20-2006, 06:48 AM

I just got this email i really dont think its real so i just post it to let other know about it

FROM: THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT JOHN WILTORD
( URBAN PROMOTIONS INTERNATIONAL ) PRIZE AWARD DEPT

REF NO: 15/0018/IPD

BATCH NO: EGS/ 22504002/04

ATTN: WINNER.

RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION, FINAL NOTICE.

We are pleased to inform you, that as a result of our
RECENT LOTTERY
DRAWS HELD on the 3rd of Nov 2005.Your e-mail address
attached to
ticket number:085-12876077-09 with serial
number:51390-0 drew lucky numbers:03-05-12-14-38 which
consequently won
in the 5th category.you have therefore been approved
for a lump sum pay of (ONE MILLION US DOLLARS ONLY) in
cash credited to file with REF:
?.EGS/3662367114/13.Note that all participants in this
lottery program
have been selected randomly through a computer ballot
system drawn from over 20,000 Officials and 30,000,000
individual email addresses from all search engines and
web sites,from Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe,
North and South America, Middle East and Africa, as
part of our
International Promotions Program. This promotional
program takes place
every year,and is promoted and sponsored by eminent
personalities
like the Sultan of Brunei,Bill Gates of microsoft inc
and other
corporate organizations.This is to encourage the use
of the internet
and computers worldwide.

Your fund is now deposited with Union Bank and insured
in your name for
security purpose and clarity,we advise that you keep
your winning information confidential until your
claims have been processed and your
money remitted to your account.This is part of our
security protocol to
avoid double claims and unwarranted abuse of this
program by some
participants.We look forward to your active
participation in our next 4
million dollars slot.

To begin the processing of your prize you are to
contact your claims
agent through our accredited Prize Transfer agents as
stated below:

DR MIKE OKORO

E MAIL: mikeokoro840@hotmail.com

TEL: 011-234-803-497-5620

CALL HIM IMMEDIATELY WITH HIS ABOVE DIRECT PHONE
NUMBER AND ALSO DROP HIM AN EMAIL PROVIDING HIM WITH THE UNDERLISTED
INFORMATIONS.

When you contact him, please provide him with your secret BATCH NO,
SERIAL
NO &

1. Name in full
2. Address
3. Nationality
4. Age
5. Occupation
6. Phone/Fax

All winnings must be claimed not later than one month.
After the date
of this notice.

Please note,in order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications,
remember to quote your reference number and batch
numbers in
all correspondence.

Furthermore,should there be any change of address do
inform our agent
as soon as possible.

Congratulations!!! once more and thank you for being
part of our
promotional program.

Sincerely,
MR.JOHN WILTORD.
VICE PRESIDENT.
URBAN PROMO.

JAMJMB · #26 01-28-2006, 12:45 AM

I just got the same email today and it was on my University email also. There are some really sick and twisted people in this world and just think that they can do whatever they want to. I almost fell for this scam but what really threw me off was when I received this email. The subject stated "FINAL NOTICE" and how could it be a final notice if I was never sent anything prior to this one? I was very suspicious so I went to yahoo and typed in "Urban Lottery and Mike Okoro" and it led me to this website. I'm so glad that all of you have posted your stories about this email because I (and others) would possibly fall for this scam. How did this person even get our email addresses and why is it on our univesity email account? You would think that "Dr. Rev. Mike Okoro" who is supposedly a Dr., Rev., and claims agent would know how to professionally type an email and also know how to spell and use the correct grammar. I cannot believe that this sicko has not been caught yet. Thanks again for helping me to not waste my time on this ridiculous scam!!!

leela · #27 01-28-2006, 11:38 AM

This sicko (and the thousands of others like him) has not been caught because he is in West Africa, probably Nigeria - one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Scamming is their third largest industry (after oil and minerals) - I kid you not! Scammers use free email accounts and fake names, and are therefore untraceable.

mauvie · #28 01-29-2006, 08:20 AM

Hello, Upon searching the internet to see if this email I received was real or not, I found this forum of information assuring my suspicions that this is definately a scam. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING ALL OF THIS INFO FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO ARE SUSPICIOUS I REALLY REALLY TRULY APPRECIATE IT!!! Below is the email I received.

FROM: THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT JOHN WILTORD

( URBAN PROMOTIONS INTERNATIONAL ) PRIZE AWARD DEPT

REF NO: 15/0018/IPD

BATCH NO: EGS/ 22504002/04

ATTN: WINNER.

RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION, FINAL NOTICE.

We are pleased to inform you, that as a result of our
RECENT LOTTERY
DRAWS HELD on the 3rd of Jan 2006. Your e-mail address
attached to
ticket number:085-12876077-09 with serial
number:51390-0 drew lucky numbers:03-05-12-14-38 which
consequently won
in the 5th category.you have therefore been approved
for a lump sum pay of (ONE MILLION US DOLLARS ONLY) in
cash credited to file with REF:
º.EGS/3662367114/13.Note that all participants in this
lottery program
have been selected randomly through a computer ballot
system drawn from over 20,000 Officials and 30,000,000
individual email addresses from all search engines and
web sites,from Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe,
North and South America, Middle East and Africa, as
part of our
International Promotions Program. This promotional
program takes place
every year,and is promoted and sponsored by eminent
personalities
like the Sultan of Brunei,Bill Gates of microsoft inc
and other
corporate organizations.This is to encourage the use
of the internet
and computers worldwide.

Your fund is now deposited with Union Bank and insured
in your name for
security purpose and clarity,we advise that you keep
your winning information confidential until your
claims have been processed and your
money remitted to your account.This is part of our
security protocol to
avoid double claims and unwarranted abuse of this
program by some
participants.We look forward to your active
participation in our next 4
million dollars slot.

To begin the processing of your prize you are to
contact your claims
agent through our accredited Prize Transfer agents as
stated below:

DR MIKE OKORO

E MAIL: mikeokoro845@yahoo.com

TEL: 011-234-803-497-5620

CALL HIM IMMEDIATELY WITH HIS ABOVE DIRECT PHONE
NUMBER

When you contact him, please provide him with your
secret BATCH NO, SERIAL NO.You are also advised to
provide him with the under listed
information as soon as possible:

1. Name in full
2. Address
3. Nationality
4. Age
5. Occupation
6. Phone/Fax

All winnings must be claimed not later than one month.
After the date
of this notice.

Please note,in order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications,
remember to quote your reference number and batch
numbers in
all correspondence.

Furthermore,should there be any change of address do
inform our agent
as soon as possible.

Congratulations!!! once more and thank you for being
part of our
promotional program.

Sincerely,
MR.JOHN WILTORD.
VICE PRESIDENT.
URBAN PROMO.

JAMJMB · #29 02-01-2006, 01:28 AM

I just checked my school email and discovered that this man, or whoever it is, emailed me two other "notices" about my "winnings". It looked a little different, but it is from the same person. This is what it said...

FROM: THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
GREEN JOHNSON (URBAN LOTTERY
INTERNATIONAL)PRIZE AWARD DEPT

REF NO: 15/0018/IPD

BATCH NO: EGS/ 22504002/04

ATTN: WINNER.

RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION, FINAL NOTICE.

We are pleased to inform you, that as a result of our RECENT LOTTERY
DRAWS HELD 2005.Your e-mail address attached to
ticket number:085-12876077-09 with serial number:51390-0 drew lucky
numbers:03-05-12-14-38 which consequently won in the 5th category.you
have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay of (ONE MILLION US
DOLLARS ONLY) in cash credited to file with REF: º.EGS/3662367114/13.

Note that all participants in this lottery program have been selected
randomly through a computer ballot system drawn from over 20,000
Officials and 30,000,000 individual email addresses from all search
engines and web sites,from Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, North
and South America, Middle East and Africa, as part of our International
Promotions Program.

This promotional program takes place every year,and is promoted and
sponsored by eminent personalities like the Sultan of Brunei,Bill Gates
of microsoft inc and other corporate organizations.

This is to encourage the use of the internet and computers and also to
improve the level of education worldwide.

Your fund is now deposited with Union Bank and insured in your name.

For security purpose and clarity,we advise that you keep your winning
information confidential until your claims have been processed and your
money remitted to your account.

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claims and
unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants.
We look forward to your active participation in our next
4 million dollars slot.

To begin the processing of your prize you are to contact your claims
agent through our accredited Prize Transfer agents as stated below:

REV.DR MIKE OKORO

E MAIL: mikeokoro151@yahoo.com
E MAIL: mikeokoro155@hotmail.com

TEL: +234-803-400-1387
CALL HIM IMMEDIATELY WITH HIS ABOVE DIRECT PHONE NUMBER IF YOU ARE
CALLING FROM (USA) THIS IS HOW YOU DIAL 011-234-803-400-1387

When you contact him, please provide him with your secret BATCH
NO,SERIAL NO.
You are also advised to provide your claim agent with the under listed
information as soon as possible send it to his two email addresses
below,

E MAIL: mikeokoro151@yahoo.com
E MAIL: mikeokoro155@hotmail.com

1. Name in full
2. Address
3. Nationality
4. Age
5. Occupation
6. Phone/Fax

You have been advised not to use your school e mail address
to reply,because sometimes it will be hard to reply you with the
school email address,so use any other e mail to reply.

All winnings must be claimed not later than one month After the date of
this notice.

Please note,in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications,
remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all
correspondence.

Furthermore,should there be any changeof address do inform our agent as
soon as possible.

Congratulations!!!once more and thank you for being part of our
promotional program.

Bear in mind that 10% of your fund will be going to the lottery
organization that played the lottery with peoples name and email
addresses that should be after you most have received the fund in your
account,the 10% would have been given to them,just because the fund has
been insured and will not be removed till you receive the fund in your
account.

Sincerely,
MR.GREEN JOHNSON
VICE PRESIDENT
URBAN LOTTERY

cinden · #30 03-21-2006, 06:21 AM

I know a lot of people have been recieving this scam on their school accounts, and so have I. I notified my school's Computer Services department via email and let them know about the problem. They emailed me back, saying they would do what they could. They must have done something, because I haven't recieved another of these emails since. I suggest anyone getting these at a school address do the same. Maybe we can keep them from catching people off guard!

brkstdnt112 · #31 04-09-2006, 07:37 PM

I would first like to thank all of you for posting comments and your experiences! I just recieved that email twice. One explaining how I had won and the other expressing how he has a new email address. Being a broke college student i was intriguied but then also being skepitcal, i yahooed this "urban lottery". Sure enough this is the first thing that comes up on the list. Wow thanks again people! I received it in my school account, so i just emailed them like one of you suggested and i will be calling them when they open today. I'm not going to post what they sent because it is all generally the same stuff. Thanks again!

plhm · #32 04-22-2006, 12:58 AM

Hello,
About 3 weeks ago I received the exact same message that everybody else. I did send my info. But I’m wondering if they can do anything illegal with my personal info. However I did not sent them my account # or anything like that. But I am worried.

This is his email at this moment. mikeokoro05@yahoo.dk

plhm · #33 04-29-2006, 05:02 AM

I just Got another one but this one is for 500,000 not one million

seangtt · #34 04-29-2006, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gookso0

And immediately, I receive this:

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

m@yahoo.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
PERM_FAILURE: SMTP Error (state 13): 554 delivery error: dd This user doesn't have a yahoo.com account (m@yahoo.com) [-5] - mta204.mail.scd.yahoo.com

I got all excited, so I sent Union Bank Head Office an email. And yep, same response. So it seems both the email accountse have been suspended.

So was this game over for Mike? If you said no, you are correct! 3 days after I get a "delievery status notification," Mike sends me another email, now with a different email address.

Dear Eric, how are you? please i want to know how far you have gone with the bank? has everything been concluded? update me.
Mike Okoro.

This guy doesn't give up, does he? I sent him this email, which was basically the same as the last one, sorta. I mean, he never got my last one, so yea.

Good afternnon Mike. My family and I are doing well. There are no
problems. You say that, "why it seems i was rushing you was because i
wanted to make sure that i have concluded with you so that i can
attend to other clients, youre not the only person i handling his
winning." But if I remember correctly, there were 25 people who won
the "UBAN INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY." So far, all you have done with me
is send me emails asking me how my family and I were doing, and
whether or not I sent the money to the bank. It takes maybe 5 minutes
to write the email, so if you were attending to all 25 winnners, then
you would've spent about 2 hours total. But this is your job, right?
Spending 2 measly hours to write emails is no excuse.

What I am saying is, Mike, you have lost my trust through your last
several emails. You gave me no deadline, yet you consistently ask I
quickly send the money, and now you are telling me to take my time.
You say you have other people to tend to, but that seems like an
excuse. On top of that, you have changed your email address? Why is
that? I tried to email you last time at your old email address, but I
got a reply saying mail delievery failed. I also tried to email the
bank, but it seems as if the bank's email does not work anymore.

You said that you didn't understand my last email, so I will explain
in detail. I wanted you to do something for me, so that you can prove
to me that the UBAN INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY is not a fake, but actually
valid. I mean, I don't want to lose $500, or even $1,000. In my last
email, I asked you to:

- Get something that can be used as a sign (cardboard box, poster paper, etc).
- Write "Weezer rocks my socks" on the sign.
- Take a picture of the sign, with you (Mike) in the picture.
- Send me the picture via email.

In my last email, I also said that if you did the above for me, I
would take out an emergency loan of $500, so that I can use it to send
it to the bank. If you do the above for me, I will use a company
called Check Into Cash. Basically, I give a cheque for $500 to this
company, and they keep the cheque, and they give me $500 in cash for
me to spend. I have to pay back the $500 plus interest to this
company, and they give me my cheque back. I sent you a scan of the
cheque I was going to use in order to get the $500.

I will give you another chance, Mike. If you can prove to me that you
are not trying to cheat me my money, then I will send the bank the
$500, as soon as you send me the picture of what I requested above.
The picture may sound silly, but I chose for you to do something
random so that I can know for sure I can trust you.

If you do not send me what I request, I will forget about the lottery
winnings and not send the bank the transaction fee.

Eric

PS I am sending you the scan of the cheque I will be using to take out
the emergency loan. Think about this carefully.

He either finally figured out that I was just messing with him, or he just got ticked off. Whatever the reason, he replied with this:

Hello Eric, i taught that i have sent you a copy of my international passport ? so if you think that your not convinced with that then you forget it ok, like you said, what iam is your claim agent, my job is to see that your money gets to you, so im not the bank that are demanding the money from you, so my dear if you think that this is not reall then you forget it.

Mike Okoro.

How sweet of him to call me "my dear." Just for that sweet remark, I think I will let him know what he could've done to convince me that this crappily fake scam could've been more realistic.

Hello Mike, you taught you had sent me a copy of your international
passport and you are correct. You have been obviously trying to scam
me of my money. I apologize, but I have known this to be a scam
since the first email you sent me. Just for being so nice to me in
other emails, I will tell you what you couldv'e done to be more
convincing the next time you try to scam someone else.

- First off, don't use Yahoo! email. Any company that can give out
millions of dollars to other people can afford their own email domain.
Use a better email.

- Make sure your "bank" doesn't use Yahoo! email either.

- Tell them where and who you work for. You never did tell me who you
worked for when I asked you in the second email that I sent you.

- Give a more convincing passport. I looked up Nigerian Passports
online, and all of them look different. Your did not look like anyone
else's passport.

- Give a more convincing Lottery Certifcate. Adding the word
"ORIGINAL" to the background of the already crappy looking certificate
doesn't make it look real.

- Make sure the numbers on the certificate match the numbers on the
email. Hint, you forgot to put the 28 in between the 14 and 38 in the
"Lucky NO." part.

- Don't use the "Lottery promotions prize" idea again. No one
promotes a lottery by giving out millions of dollars. That is stupid.
No company likes to lose millions of dollars.

I can't think of any others, but if I do, I will let you know. Thank
you, Mike, and my apologies.

Eric "Eirikr Shannanigan Leebowski" Lee

Any other scammers wanna mess?

:) WOW TRULY ENTERTAINING AND MARVELLOUS. THIS REALLY MAKE ME LAUGH OUT LOUDLY...I WISHED I WOULD HAVE SEEN THIS EARLIER. BUT NOT TO BE...

I HAVE BEEN CHEATED FOR OVER USD $6,500+++ FOR TRUSTING THESE STUPIG LOTTERY DEALS AND 6 NEXT-OF-KINS DEALS.

I WAS SO STUPIG AND DUMBASS UNTIL I PAID THEM ALMOST MY-2-YEAR SALARY WHICH WILL PROVIDE NO RETURN TO ME.

IM SAD BUT WHAT CAN I DO? I HAVE PAID THE MONEY THROUGH TT AND MONEY GRAM TRANSFER AND THEY KEPT ASKING FOR MORE, INDEED THEY STILL CALL ME TODAY BUT I DARE NOT TO TELL THEM TO BUCK OFF OR F**K OFF.

I AM SURE MY IDENTITY WHCIH I HAVE GIVEN HAS ALREADY BEEN USED UP FOR DOING ILLEGAL WRONGDOINGS, I AM SURE.

IM SO SCARED. THEY KEEP REASSURING ME LAST WEEK THAT THE DEALS ARE PURE 100% TRUE. I WISH I WOULD HAVE SEEN THIS WEBSITE EARLIER INSTEAD OF THE PAST FEW DAYS.

I WONDER HOW WORLD CUP 2010 WHICH WILL BE HELD THERE. I AM AFRAID THAT MANY WILL FALL INTO THE HELL TRAP AGAIN , I AM DAMN SURE AFTER THE WORLD CUP 2006 ENDS IN GERMANY

IT'S A REAL FOOD FOR THOUGHT :(

leela · #35 04-29-2006, 09:00 PM

Tell them to **** off! Really, it's the only way they'll leave you alone. They've got money out of you once, to them you're fair game for more. Next time they phone, say you've reported them to the police. Once they realise you're on to them, they'll go away.

And report this crime to the police. If you're in the US, you can also report it on line at www.ic3.gov and http://www.fraud.org

seangtt · #36 04-30-2006, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leela

Tell them to **** off! Really, it's the only way they'll leave you alone. They've got money out of you once, to them you're fair game for more. Next time they phone, say you've reported them to the police. Once they realise you're on to them, they'll go away.

And report this crime to the police. If you're in the US, you can also report it on line at www.ic3.gov and http://www.fraud.org

I WILL DO WHATEVER U TOLD ME LEELA

THANKS :p

seangtt · #37 05-05-2006, 12:35 PM

THEY ARE PROFESSIONALS DON'T U THINK SO?

THEY ARE NOT SCARED EVEN THOUGH WERE TOLD WE HAVE REPORTED TO THE POLICE...BLA BLA BLA AND ETC ETC ETC

THEY EVEN ASK FOR THE POLIE REPORT NUMBER AND THE TEL NO...THEY ARE SURE THEY HAVE GOOD AND FAMOUS AGENCY NAMES WHICH THEY DON'T WANT TO SPOIL THE GOOD NAMES

DO U BELIEVE IT???SO REALL :confused:

catchscams · #38 05-19-2006, 06:05 PM

i do like the story of the guy who started this thread it was so funny i even read it twice lol.well i have no intentions on insulting anyone here but when i see some of the messages here i cant stop to think how gullible some of you guys are??and i thought i was very gullible but comparing to some of you i have to say i havent fell for any of those scammers yet.people, listen to your gut feelings if it tells you something is fishy it probably is.i mean comon now who would give away anything today for no work or less effort just makes no sense.specially getting an email that tells you, you just won a million dollars from nigerian lottery ring ring helllloooo???!!! in nigeria they are daily kids and babies dying every 3 minute because of starvation,they have no millions to give away specially not to americans!! like i said i am not here to belittle anyone but it really hurts me to see how many of you guys have been scammed.which is very sad but the reality today is use common sense and be cautios,do not trust anyone specially a stranger who promises you some good deal over the internet!!!
not everyone is as honest as you think they are.do not make these people any richer than they already are!! be carefull out there!!
i am not here to insult anyone if i did so i am sorry

Dunadan · #39 07-15-2006, 01:22 PM

Hey All,
i also got the same mail, but it is not from that Green Johnson, It's from Johnson Taylor. he even ask me to contact Eric Brume to claims the prize.
here is the mail:

From: The Desk of the Vice president The National Lottery International Promotions/prize Mr. Johnson Taylor.
ATTN: Winner.
We are pleased to inform you, that as a result of our
RECENT LOTTERY DRAWS HELD on the 17th of May 2006.Your
e-mail address attached to ticket Number: 085-12876077-09 with serial number: 51390-0 drew Lucky numbers: 03-05-12-14-38, Batch No: EGS/ 22504002/04: Reference No: 15/0018/IPD which consequently won in the 5th category.
You have therefore been approved for the payment of (ONE MILLION US DOLLARS ONLY) in Cash credited to file with REF: º.EGS/3662367114/13. Note that all participants in this lottery program have been selected randomly through a computer ballot system drawn from over 20,000 Official and 30,000,000 individual email addresses from all search engines and web sites, from Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, North and South America, Middle East and Africa, as part of our international Promotions Program. This promotional program takes place every year, and is promoted and sponsored by eminent personalities like the Sultan of Brunei, Bill Gates of Microsoft Inc and other corporate organizations. This is to encourage the use of the Internet and computers worldwide. Your fund is now deposited and insured. For security purpose and clarity, we advise that you keep your winning information confidential until your claims have been processed and your money remitted to your account. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claims and unwarranted abuse of this program by our participants. We look forward to your active participation in our next 4 million dollars slot. To begin the processing of your prize you are to contact your claims agent through our accredited Prize Transfer agents as stated below: Mr. Eric Brume, Email: ericbrume@fastermail.com

When you contact him, please provide him with your secret BATCH NO and SERIAL NO. You are also advised to provide him with the under listed information as soon as possible: 1. Name in full, 2. Address, 3. Nationality, 4. Age, 5. Occupation, 6. Phone/Fax numbers.
All winnings must be claimed not later than one month after the date of this notice. Please note, in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all correspondence. Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform our agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations!!! Once more and thank you for being part of our promotional program. Also note that 10% of your fund will be going to the urban lottery after you must have received the fund into your account.
Sincerely,
Mr. Johnson Taylor.

what a f***!!!!!!!!!!!

Dunadan · #40 07-15-2006, 01:28 PM

after i receive that mail, i try to find out who is eric brume, and you know what, i found out that he is one of the contact person in go4georgiabusiness.com for foreign buyer. it definitely makes me dizzy and confused.he is really exist!!!
after i find this website, i realize that it just a sh**.
i hope one of you people who have ever receive those kinda mail, would contact me as soon as possible at sniper_seeker@hotmail.com.
i wanna have a chat with you about this.
thank you guys.

Will_i_am3904 · #41 10-12-2006, 09:58 AM

All these posts seem a little old so here's a new version of the scam I guess

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL NOTICE AWARD NOTIFICATION.....................
FROM: THE DESK OF THE MANAGER,
URBAN LOTTO INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT.
REF NO: 15/0018/IPD
BATCH NO: EGS/ 22504002/04
ATTN: BENEFICIARY.
FINAL NOTICE AWARD NOTIFICATION.
We are pleased to inform you, that as a result of our RECENT LOTTERY DRAWS HELD on the 25th of September 2006.Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:085-12876077-09 with serial number:51390-0 drew lucky numbers:03-05-12-14-38 which consequently won in the 5th category.you have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay of (ONE MILLION US DOLLARS ONLY) in cash credited to file with. REF: s.EGS/3662367114/13.Note that all participants in this lottery program have been selected randomly through a computer ballot system drawn from over 20,000 Officials and 30,000,000 individual email addresses from all search engines and web sites,from Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, North and South America, Middle East and Africa, as part of our International Promotions Program.
This promotional program takes place every year,and is promoted and sponsored by eminent personalities like the Sultan of Brunei,Bill Gates of microsoft inc and other corporate organizations.This is to encourage the use of the internet and computers worldwide. Your fund is now deposited with ACCESS BANK PLC and insured in your name For security purpose and clarity,we advise that you keep your winning information confidential until your claims have been processed and your money remitted to your account.To begin the processing of your prize you are to contact your claims agent through our accredited Prize Transfer agents as stated below:
DR MR LYNAORA JOHNSON
Email: lynn_johnson001@hotmail.com
When you contact him, please provide him with your secret BATCH NO,SERIAL NO.
You are also advised to provide him with the under listed information as soon as possible:
1. Name in full
2. Address
3. Nationality
4. Age
5. Occupation
6. Phone/Fax

Sincerely,
MR. MONOGOR GIFT.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I imagine it's a scam, but no mention of nigeria. Sucks

leela · #42 10-12-2006, 12:02 PM

Quote:

I imagine it's a scam, but no mention of nigeria.

Err... what did you expect? "THIS IS A NIGERIAN 419 SCAM EMAIL" printed in large letters across the top of it? :rolleyes:

Will_i_am3904 · #43 10-12-2006, 03:34 PM

Well that would make the whole thing so much easier....

leela · #44 10-12-2006, 04:22 PM

How much easier does it need to be? Hmm, let's think about this: you get an email from someone you've never heard of, using a free email account, telling you that you've won a prize in a lottery you haven't bought a ticket for, and asking you for a load of personal information that no real lottery organisation would ask for or even need. Tricky, isn't it?

Will_i_am3904 · #45 10-12-2006, 08:22 PM

Well I'm sure they've gotten people as desperate for money as I am, I'm skeptical though, that's why I googled Urban Lotto and came across this site. Usually i just delete stupid spam mail but you see that million dollars on the letter and you double think it a couple times....nothings free(sigh)

alfa2011 · #46 04-13-2007, 05:46 PM

i have received a simmilar lind of mail from a swis national lottery.

wonder if somebody else has got it as well.

Saber1989 · #47 07-25-2009, 08:15 AM

I got a new scam from this Mike Okoro. I googled his name and came across this site. I always knew it was a scam. And I wanted to try the same as Eric Lee did. He inspired me!!
Check out the
scammermike.blogspot.com
for the email he sent me.

Saber1989 · #48 07-25-2009, 08:18 AM

I ll just post it here!

I look forward to your urgent response.‏

From:	Mike Okoro (mikeokoro10@gmail.com)
	You may not know this sender.Mark as safe\|Mark as junk
Sent:	July 24, 2009 5:28:56 PM
To:	mikeokoro10@gmail.com

ATTN:

I crave your indulgence for the unsolicited nature of this letter, but it was borne out of desperation and current development. Please bear with me.

I am Barrister Mike Okoro a solicitor at law. I was the Personal assistant to a national of your country, who used to own an oil servicing company in Nigeria Herein after shall be referred to as my client.

On the 21st of November, 2002.my client his wife and their three Children were involved in a car accident along sagama express road. All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost their lives.Since then I had made several inquiries through your Embassy to locate any of my clients extended relative but this exercise has proved unsuccessful.

After several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his relatives through Your Coountry's Chamber of Commerce,to locate any member of his family not much progress was recorded My late client was an influential wealthy businessman, an oil magnet here in Nigeria and he left behind a deposit of $12.5 Million in his domiciliary bank account in HSBC BANK LONDON After the death of my client his bankers contacted me, as his Attorney to provide his next of kin who should inherit his fortune.

The board of directors of his bank adopted a resolution and I was mandated to provide his next of kin for the payment of this money within 28 working days or forfeit the money to the bank as an abandoned property.

The bankers had planned to invoke the abandoned property decree of 1996 to confiscate the funds after the expiration of the period given to me. Despairing at the point of exhaustiveness, fortunately, I came across your name, to my utmost amazement, I discovered that you bear the same surname with my late client and coincidentally, you are nationals of the same country.

I am Convinced that you may be linked with my late client or that you might provide clue to my search, I therefore, decided to contact with these facts before me because of the similarities. By virtue of my closeness to the deceased and his immediate family, I am very much aware of my client financial standing and the bank account he operates.

I have reasoned very professionally and I feel it will be legally proper to present you as the next of kin of my deceased client so that you can be paid the funds left in his bank account hence I contacted you.

I seek your consent to present you as the Next of Kin to the Deceased since you are at an advantage, so that the proceeds of this Bank Account valued at US$12.5 Million Dollars can be paid to you.

We shall both share the funds. 55% to me and 45% to you, I shall assemble all the necessary Legal Documents that will be used to back up our claim.

All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us seeing this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of law.

Please get in touch with me by my e-mail address to enable us discuss further. You may also send your phone number so that I can call you.

I look forward to your urgent response.

Best regards,
Barr Mike Okoro

humman · #49 08-05-2009, 12:36 AM

I got concerned when I was asked to send $120 through Western Union, and I was thinking, can't they just do an electronic transfer? He sent me the same things that gookso0 has already posted, maybe different numbers, I didn't check the details after this. I found the Union Bank of Nigeria on line and noticed that it's domain name was unionbankng.com, NOT bankersmail.com, so I searched further and found this web-page.

Meri Widow · #50 08-05-2009, 10:34 AM

Hope you didn't send any money via Western Union, that is the big red flag for a scam. Just delete any more emails from that address, don't even bother reading them. The scammer might even try to send you emails from the FBI, those will be fake also. If he has your phone number, ignore his pleading calls and messages. The scammer will eventually go away, he is only interested in your money. You can also read about others and/or post your experience at ScamWarners.com and 419Eater.com.