419 scam: "William Atwood." <williamatwood40@yahoo.co.uk> REPLY ME IMMEDIATELY

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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:
- "search for a reliable person" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "transferred into your bank account" (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)
- "into your nominated bank account" (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)
- "million pounds" (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)
- "here in united kingdom" (this email uses bad English)
- "can i trust you?" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "William Atwood." <williamatwood40@yahoo.co.uk>
Reply-To: atwoodw@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Mon, 03 Jun 2013 16:39:25 -0500
Subject: REPLY ME IMMEDIATELY

Hello Friend, Can I Trust You?

ATTENTION:RE:Transfer of 30,000,000.00 pounds to your Account.
I am William Atwood. , the Executive Auditor and head of computing
department, bank here in United Kingdom.

This email is strictly confidential and is for your attention only. I
am making this venture proposal to you,

as a reliable partner. I got your e-mail address through my search for
a reliable person/company in your

country, who can be capable to do this transaction with me. I wish to
transfer a huge amount of thirty million

pounds sterling ( 30,000,000.00).Which belongs to Late Director and
owner of petrochemical service from

Australia. Who died since
1998 without a well. Through my investigation, I found out that nobody
knows about this account. And I am his

personal account manager and I have with me all the files concerning
this fund.
However, if you are interested in this business we will start the
first money transfer with Ten Million Pounds

Sterling [ 10,000.000] upon successful transaction without any
disappointment from you. We shall also re-apply

for the payment of the remaining amount to your bank account.
But if you can be honest, I will inform you the next step to take,
while you providing a preferable empty bank

account of your choice where you want the fund to be transferred,
including your private telephone and fax

number. After this transaction must have been achieved, you will be
given 35% of the total amount, 60% will be

for me, while 5% will be for expenses both parties might have incurred
during this process, and I want you to

understand that this transaction is 100% risky & trouble free, hence
we are going to follow the normal

transfer process.
I need a strong assurance from you that you will never let me down
hence; the money is transferred into your

nominated bank account. Moreover I will be in your country immediately
the fund is transferred into your bank

account for the withdrawing and sharing of the money in your
subscribed banks and other investment.

for more details Kindly contact me if you would like to work with me.

Thanks and God bless.
Sincerely Yours,

William Atwood.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam