419 scam: David Lewis <offline_bank@bellsouth.net> Await for your reply

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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 us 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)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: David Lewis <offline_bank@bellsouth.net>
Reply-To: mfnigeroiinf@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:24:27 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Await for your reply

Dear Partner,

I hereby write to seek for your Business Partnership.

My Name is Mr David Lewis, the Deputy Chairman of the Zenith Bank Limited, Tema Branch, Nigeria.

My Bank most times represents the interest of the Foreign investors due to the sensitivity of the position we hold in our society and the unstable investment environment of our country, we evacuate majority of our funds into more stable economies and developed nations where we can get good yield of our funds.
Ten Million US Dollars is right now available for Investment( $10,000,000.00 US Dollars) which i want to move down to your country for investment but base on security reasons, this Funds has been diverted into an ESCROW CODED ACCOUNT so that nobody can have access to the Funds.
If you are interested and vast in business management, Please endeavour to respond back to me immediately with your Full contact details so that both of us can execute this deal confidentially. Reply me through my official email address indicated below for security reasons.

I await your response.

Best Regards,
Mr David Lewis.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam