419 scam: "welcome to world lottery co-coordinator"<info@lee.com> welcome to world lottery co-coordinator

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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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

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

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

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

Click here to report a problem with this page.

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

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "united state of america" (this email uses bad English)
This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!

Fraud email example:

From: "welcome to world lottery co-coordinator" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <usambassador.donald_ghana@yahoo.cn>
Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:49:45 +0200
Subject: welcome to world lottery co-coordinator

welcome to world lottery co-coordinator, How are you today? Hope all is well with you and your family?I hope this mail meets you in a perfect condition. You have been confirmed and approved as one of our lucky winner.This is from a total cash prize of $50,000,000.00 (Fifty Million United States dollars), given to the first ONE HUNDRED (100) people who will be compensated in this world internet programs.All participants were selectedrandomly from World Wide Web site through computer draw system and extracted from over 700.000 companies. We are using this opportunity to thank you for using the internet daily.Due to your effort, using internet programs indoor and in your office,We want to compensate you and show our gratitude to you with the sum of $550,000.OO (FIVE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS). we have authorized the Ambassador of the united state of america in ghana to assist you in getting your compensation check across to you.The name and contact address of Mr donald G. Teitelbaum is as follows; ADDRESS NO.24,fourth circular Rd, Cantonments Accra Ghana CONTACT:Ambassador Donald G. Teitelbaum EMAIL: (usambassador.donald_ghana@yahoo.cn) Finally remember that we have forwarded instruction to Ambassador Donald G.Teitelbaum on your behalf to send the cash prize of $550,000 to you as soon as you contact him without delay. REGARDS MANAGEMENT Lottery Co-coordinator. © 2012 WORLD INTERNET PROGRAMS® REPLY TO HIS PRIVATE EMAIL ADRESS: (usambassador.donald_ghana@yahoo.cn)

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam