419 scam: ericbates@voila.fr AWAITING YOUR RESPONSE...

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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "offshore account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing 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: ericbates@voila.fr
Reply-To: johnsongeorge@ciudad.com.ar
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:53:38 +0700
Subject: AWAITING YOUR RESPONSE...

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Johnson George of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
Portharcourt office. With the assistance of some senior official of the
Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Finance and our office
here in Portharcourt, we want to quietly transfer the sum of £21.5m from
NNPC offshore account to over-sea trust account. This £21.5 Million arose
from over-invoicing of contract receipts for the Turn Around Maintenance
(TAM) of the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries in Nigeria and
also the rehabilitation of Petroleum pipelines, depot and jetties.

The Federal Government and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum resources have
approved the total value of £280m, and the payment of foreign contractors
from Japan, France and U.S.A. has already started, because most part of the
work for the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) has been fully completed, we will
use your company as a consultant and job costing contractor to NNPC so that
the £21.5m can be transferred into your account without any hitch
whatsoever.

If you are interested in assisting us in this transaction, kindly, provide
us the following immediately to enable us discuss further details for the
successful completion of this transaction.

Your full Name:
Your full address:
Age:
Marital status:
Gender:
Occupation:
Country:
Phone number and fax #:

Regards.
Johnson George.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam