419 scam: "Mrs. Bessel Harris"<postmaster@thebis.com> Attention: Dear User of the Internet

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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:
- "million 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 fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +2348025243188 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)
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.
- rwilliams@126.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs. Bessel Harris" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <rwilliams@126.com>
Date: Sun, 24 May 2015 08:22:58 -0300
Subject: Attention: Dear User of the Internet

Attention: Dear User of the Internet

How are you today? We hope this mail meets you in a perfect condition.

This is a total cash prize of US 50,000,000 Million dollars, given to the

first FIFTY (10) people compensated in this world internet programs.

All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web site through

computer draw system and extracted from over 700,000 companies. We are

using this opportunity to thank you for using the internet daily.

Due to your effort, using internet daily, we want to compensate you and

show our gratitude to you with the sum of $5,000,000.00 Million United

States Of America Dollars, We have arranged your payment through our swift

card centers, which is the latest instruction from International Monetary

Fund Reconciliation Office {IMF}.

The card center will send you an ATM Visa card which you will use to

withdraw your money in any ATM machine, Banks and Union Pay Credit outlets

in the world; you are hereby selected as an honor for this payment

approval, which you are to acknowledge the receipt of this mail to the

Logistic Department by email listed below.

Contact Agent. Mr. Richard Williams with below e-mail;

Compensation Office and Logistics Vaults

Contact Agent: Mr. Richard Williams

E-mail: rwilliams@126.com

Tell: +2348025243188

Thanks and God bless you and your family.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Yours Faithfully,

Mrs. Bessel Harris

International Online Lottery Co-ordinator.

©2015 World Internet Programs

NOTE: Kindly be informed that recipients shall be liable for the cost of

delivery of the Atm visa card.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam