419 scam: "Gareth & Catherine Bull"<<''www''@clear.ocn.ne.jp>> Congratulations Charity Project from Gareth

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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "million british pounds" (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)
- ",500,000" (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)
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: "Gareth & Catherine Bull" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <garethbull112016@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2018 11:30:01 -0800
Subject: Congratulations Charity Project from Gareth

Dear Sir/Madam,

Good day, to you and your family, Before I proceed, We hope this good news meets you and your entire household in peace, good health and absolute happiness as we expected.

My wife and I won the Euro Millions Lottery of 41 Million British Pounds and we have decided to donate 2.5million British Pounds (Two million ,five hundred thousand British Pounds) each to 3individuals worldwide as part of our own charity project. To verify, please see our interview by visiting the web page below:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2091124/EuroMillions-winners-Gareth-Catherine-Bull-scoop-41MILLION-lotto-jackpot.html

Your email address was among the emails which were submitted to us by the Google, Inc. as a web user; if you have received our email please, kindly send us the below details so that we can transfer your 2,500,000 British Pounds in your name or direct our bank to effect the transfer of the funds to your operational bank account in your country, congratulations.

Full Name:
Mobile No:
Age:
Address:
Country:
Occupation:

Send your response to above email address, otherwise you will not get further feedback from us.

Note importantly that, you might likely receive this message in your inbox, spam or junk folder which happens as a result of your web host

We love you all, we hope to hear back from you today. Congratulations.

Best Regards,
Gareth & Catherine Bull

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam