419 scam: Mrs. Janet Louise Yellen<mira@bokiftw.com> Quick Follow-Up

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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:
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
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 mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +2347016003656 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)
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.
- normanko906@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: Mrs. Janet Louise Yellen<mira@bokiftw.com>
Reply-To: jameshoward0x@gmail.com
Date: 5 Dec 2023 08:31:44 -0800
Subject: Quick Follow-Up

GRANT LOTTERY DEPARTMENT
NO 566 CAMERON ROAD, IKOYI
LAGOS, NIGERIA

Dear Winner,

This is to inform you that you have been selected for a grant
prize of $2, 500, 000.00 USD from the international balloting
programmes held on the second section in Nigeria. You are hereby
declared our November and December winner for 2023.

This selection process was carried out through random selection
in our computerized email selection system (ESS) from a database
of over 350, 000 email address drawn from all the Continents of
the world which you were selected.

The Grant Lottery is approved by the Nigeria-Gaming Board and
also licensed by the International Association of Gaming
Regulations (IAGR) to begin the processing of your prize, you are
to contact our fiduciary claims department for more information
as regards procedures to the claim of your prize and make sure to
call him on his mobile number below:

Name: JAMES H. NORMAN
Email: normanko906@gmail.com
Phone: +234 - 701-600-3656

Contact him by providing him with your secret Pin code number:
GRANT: 255162HFY0ZE/23

You are advised to provide him with the under listed information
as soon as possible.

Name in full
Residential address
Age
Sex
Nationality
Occupation
Present country
Direct phone number
Email address
Pin code number: 255162HFY0ZE/23

Please you are to provide him with the above listed details as
soon as possible so he can begin with the processing of your
prize winnings.
Congratulations again from all our staff and thank you for being
part of our promotional programme which is sponsored by one
Africaâ€™s billionaires, ALIKO DANGOTE.

MR JAYSON WEBB
THE DIRECTOR PROMOTIONS
GRANT LOTTERY DEPARTMENT
LAGOS, NIGERIA

NOTE BELOW: If you receive this message in your SPAM/BULK folder,
that is because of the restrictions implemented by your internet
service provider, we (GRANT) urge you to treat genuinely.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam