419 scam: "Eglise Catholique"<terry@yahoo.com> GoodNews!!!

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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.
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.
- eglisecatholiquedonation1@hotmail.com (Hotmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "Eglise Catholique" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <eglisecatholiquedonation1@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 07:51:19 -0700
Subject: GoodNews!!!

Eglise catholique en France would like to notify you that you have been chosen by the board of trustees as one of the final recipients of a cash Grant/Donation for your own personal, educational, and business objective of human growth, and community development.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary programme, We are giving out a yearly donation of US$850,000.00 (Eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars only) to 100 lucky recipients, as charity donations/aid from Église catholique en France,ECOWAS, EU and the UNO in accordance with the enabling act of Parliament. Which is part of our promotion, These specific Donations/Grants will be awarded to 100 lucky international recipients worldwide.

You are required to contact the Executive Secretary with your Qualification
numbers (CEF-080-2998-2996)

1. Full Name:
2. Country:
3. Occupation:
4. Date Of Birth:
5. Marital Status:
6. Religion:
7. Other Electronic Email Contacts:
8.Phone Number:
You Are Required to Contact the Executive Secretary Rev. Silvian Dechamps Via their email contact
E-mail: eglisecatholiquedonation1@hotmail.com
On behalf of the Board kindly, accept our warmest congratulations.

Regards,
Rev. Santini Benzima.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam