419 scam: William James <williamjames2020@yahoo.pt> season greetings

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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:
- ",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)
- ",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)
- "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)
- "dormant 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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
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.
- infogcb57@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: William James <williamjames2020@yahoo.pt>
Reply-To: William James <infogcb57@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 22:22:32 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: season greetings

Greetings,
I am Â Mr. William James, An account manager of Ghana Continental Bank. I personally discovered a dormant account with a total sum of $5,500,000.00 during our Bank's Annual Year Account Auditing. The owner of this dormant account which I found out that he's dead and he died on the 5th of Jan 2011. Since the death of the deceased, nobody has operated in this account till date.
Moreover, this account has NO BENEFICIARY attached to it. Definitely, this fund will be confiscated by our BANKING CODE OF ETHICS if it remains dormant for period of (5) years without any claims. In this regard, I earnestly need your full cooperation in transferring this dormant fund out of our bank to avoid confiscating of this fund. I seek for you assistant and to partner with me so that we can transfer this fund into any of your account for sharing. I will split the transfer into two 2 stages for easy and smooth transfer.
First, I will transfer $ 2.5million to any valid foreign account you will provide, upon a successful transfer without any disappointment from your side, I will then fly to meet you in your home for my sharing, and thereafter we jointly transfer the remaining balance of $3,000,000.00 for magnitude investments.Â
If you are willing to cooperate in this project, I will give you more details as soon as I hear from you. Please note that this transaction required an utmost trust and confidentiality to be able to emerge success. If you are interested, kindly reply me on my private email (infogcb57@gmail.com).Â
I anticipate your response.Sincerely,William

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam