419 scam: "Dr William Tolu." <drwilliamtolu@live.co.uk> Dear Friend,

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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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "utmost confidentiality" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "foreign remittance department" (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.

Fraud email example:

From: "Dr William Tolu." <drwilliamtolu@live.co.uk>
Reply-To: drwilliamtou2011@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 10:35:48 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Dear Friend,

Dear Friend, My name is Dr William Tolu, I am the manager foreign remittance department of Bank in BurkinaFaso West Africa. I have a business proposal in the tune of ($10.5Million United States Dollar only) after the successful transfer;We shall share the fund in ratio of50% for you and 50% for me. Please ifyou are interested,So we can commence all arrangements,And I willGive youmore information on how we would handle This project. Please treat thisbusiness with utmost Confidentiality and send me the Following information's below to enable us commence immediately:
(1) Fullnames......................... ..(2) Privatephone number....................(3) Currentresidential address............(4)Occupation.................... ......(5) Age andSex......................... Best Regards,Dr William Tolu.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam