419 scam: "BANK OF AFRICA"<williamsatboa@gmail.com> Did you authorize Mr. TONY WEST from West Virginia to claim your funds ?

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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:
- "inheritance funds" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "hundred thousand 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)
- "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)
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "BANK OF AFRICA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <micwil092@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:25:28 +0100
Subject: Did you authorize Mr. TONY WEST from West Virginia to claim your funds ?

Dear Beneficiary,

We are writing regarding your Inheritance funds of $500,000.00, which was used to open an online account for you at Bank of africa by the United Nations Compensation Unit.
Did you authorize Mr. TONY WEST from West Virginia to claim your funds of $500,000.00? because he informed us that you were involved in a fatal accident, so if you are still alive please kindly get back to us so that we will not be making any mistake as we are about sending him your user name and password to log on to your online Bank account with Bank of Africa that worth's $500,000.00 ( Five hundred thousand united states dollars ), we need a final confirmation before we decide to send him the important details to transfer your funds through Bank of Africa online transfer as he claims to be your beneficiary.
The reason why your funds were delayed last time was because you did not provide the requested documents, but now all the documents is obtained so kindly get back to us if you are still alive so that we wouldn't be mistaken and then we are going to send you your Online account information's with Bank of Africa such as the User name, Password, Account number, so you can log in successfully and transfer your funds within ten minutes to your account over there.
To confirm that you are still alive and you are ready to transfer your funds through our online banking transfer, get back to us with the details as required below for confirmation.
Reply with the details requested below to proceed.
Full Name:
Address:
Home Phone:
Cell Phone:
Age:
Occupation:

Regard’s
YOURS IN SERVICE
MR. MICHAEL WILLIAMS

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam