419 scam: "Mr. Benson Williams"<lilliancole2010@yahoo.com> Attention: Email Owner,

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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "million united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- wbenson2010@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Benson Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <wbenson2010@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 21:18:30 -0700
Subject: Attention: Email Owner,

BRITISH TOBACCO COMPANY OF NIGERIA
Cocacola / Acculotto Email Lottery Promo
P O Box 1012 Victoria island
www.acculotto.com

Attention: Email Owner,

Are you the owner of this email address or do you have authorized access
to it in the absence of the owner? If yes! then you have every reason to
rejoice as the result of the lottery draw held to promote South African
2010 World Cup, free ticket and online e-mail address draws has just been
released and guess what?

Your email is among the two lucky winners, that won ($1 Million United
States Dollars) Each in the just concluded draw held to promote South
African 2010 World Cup, sponsored by Nigeria.
For Prize Claiming, Contact our payment center here in Nigeria.

Name: Benson Williams
Email: wbenson2010@gmail.com

And also provide the following information for the processing of your
winning fund.
NAME:................................
ADDRESS:..............................
NATIONALITY:.........................
SEX:..................................
AGE:.................................
MOBILE:.................................
OCCUPATION:...........................
COMPANY:..............................

Your Email Attached to Ticket No: (7YZ2010) and Ballot No: (BT120/B)
Winners must send His or Her Names,Address,Telephone Number and Means of
Identification (International Passport or Drivers License) to claim
officer, via email to process the Immediate payment of your prize.

Congratulations once again.
BRITISH TOBACCO COMPANY OF NIGERIA

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam