419 scam: "Mr.William Morris"<webmaster@buerstner-wohnwagen.com> Offshore Banking And Investment Dept.

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- ",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)
- "offshore account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
This email message is a next of kin scam.
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.
- showersofblessings1@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr.William Morris" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ronsila888@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2011 07:39:46 -0500
Subject: Offshore Banking And Investment Dept.

>From The Desk of:

Mr.William Morris

Auditor General,HSBC Group London

United Kingdom.

Dear Friend,

I am Mr.William Morris , Auditor General of HSBC Group London Branch. In my
department we discovered an abandoned sum of US$90.000.000 (Ninety Million
United States Dollar) in an offshore account that belongs to one of our foreign
customers, Late Mr.Joel an Indonesian citizen who was a Tsunami Victim
,unfortunately the man lost his life in the recent tsunami.

Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin

or relatives to come over and lay claims to his money because we cannot release
it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as
indicated in our banking guidelines. Unfortunately, I learnt that his supposed
next of kin being his only daughter died also on this tsunami disaster leaving
nobody with the knowledge of this funds behind for the claim. It is therefore
upon this discovery that I now decided to make business with you which will
authorize my Bank Bank to release the money to your possession as the next of
kin

business partner of the deceased as only beneficiary of the funds for safety
keeping and subsequent disbursement, since nobody is laying claims to it and we
don’t want this money to go back into Government treasury as unclaimed bill .

The banking law and guidelines here stipulates that such money remained after
seven(7) years will be transferred into banking treasury as unclaimed funds. We
agreed that 35% (US$35,000,000) of this money would be for you as gratification
for assistance rendered for the claim of this fund , while the balance will be
for me. I will visit your country for the disbursement according to the
percentages indicated above once this money gets into your account. Please be
honest to me as trust stands to be our watchword in this transaction.

Our assurance is that your role is risk free to accord this transaction the
legality it deserves as with all modalities put in place we are certain in
actualizing a hitch free transfer of the funds without any complications. Kindly

signify your intention to assist by sending me an email for further procedures
relating to this transaction.

Please note that all necessary arrangement for the smooth release of these funds

to your name has been finalized. We will discuss much in details when I do
receive your response by email .If you are interested in this project,please
contact me as a matter of urgency on my private mailbox ( showersofblessings1@gmail.com )
for further directives.

Finally , we shall actualize this goal and the fund will be transferred within
few bank working days as soon as you reply to me.

Best regards,

Mr.William Morris

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam