419 scam: STEVE WILLIAMS <harvo11@ntlworld.com> Mr Steve

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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:
- "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)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: STEVE WILLIAMS <harvo11@ntlworld.com>
Reply-To: stevwilliams006@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2013 14:21:35 -0800
Subject: Mr Steve

I am Mr. Steve Williams, a banker by profession, working
with Biao Bank in Abidjan Cote Divoire. I am the account manager of
late Mr. Richard Shelton, the formal manager of Cocoa processing
industry here in
Abidjan Cote Divoire.

On the 22nd of FEB.2010 ,our customer, his wife and only child
were involved in a ghastly motor accident, where all the occupants of
the vehicle unfortunately lost their lives.
Since then I have made several inquiries to locate any of his
extended relatives or Business partners and this has proved abortive.

After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to contact you for
your assistance to transfer the sum of( US$2.6 M ) (TWO Million Six
hundred thousand United States Dollars) that was left behind by our
customer in our bank .

The banking Law and guideline of BIAO BANK stipulates that if such
money remained unclaimed for four years, the money will be
converted into bank treasury as unclaimed fund.

Therefore i am contacting you, for your assistance to transfer the
money to your account.
I have decided to offer you 40 % of the total money for your assistance,

I also want to assure you that this transaction is legal. Therefore
you should not entertain any atom of fear as all required arrangements
have been made for the transfer .

Awaiting your immediate response

regards

Mr.STEVE WILLIAMS

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam