419 scam: Gormley Michael <MGormley@centralstate.edu> Contact Your Agent ***bentelliot@europe.com***

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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 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.
- xmasbonus@europe.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2011 05:14:23 -0500
Subject: Contact Your Agent ***bentelliot@europe.com***

The National Lottery
P.O.Box 1010
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM

Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

Attn: Winner.

You have won the sum of £1,181,670.00 GBP from the UK NATIONAL
XMAS BONANZA, from the just concluded British Lottery November Promotions 2010/2011.

Winning Bonus Numbers: 14 30 31 36 44 47 26

Lotto draw 1547

Draw date: Saturday 20th November 2010.

Contact Person.
Mr. Bent Elliot
Email: xmasbonus@europe.com

Requirements:

1. Name:
2. Address:
3. Age:
4. Sex:
5. Occupation:
6. Telephone Number:
7. Country of Residence:

Congratulations from me and members of staff of THE UNITED
KINGDOM NATIONAL LOTTERY.Our winners are assured of the utmost
standards of confidentiality, and press anonymity until the end of
proceedings, and beyond where they so desire. Be further
advised to maintain the strictest level of confidentiality until the end of proceedings to circumvent problems associated with fraudulent claims. This is part of our
precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Yours faithfully,
Mrs. Gormley Michael
Online coordinator for THE UNITED KINGDOM NATIONAL LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam