419 scam: "WORLD BANK CREDITORS"<info@wbc.org> WORLD BANK CREDITORS

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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.
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!

Fraud email example:

From: "WORLD BANK CREDITORS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <david.collins89@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 03:55:16 -0700
Subject: WORLD BANK CREDITORS

ATTN: Please Read

I have been waiting to hear back from you so we can finalize your transaction and for some reasons you have not gotten back to me.

The World Bank is finally disbursing all unclaimed funds and they have orders its Creditors to make sure all unclaimed funds are claimed or reversed.

I want to believe you have not claimed your winnings because you are unable to come up with the (Fee/$6,750.00), if this is the reason why i haven't heard back from you then I will make you a deal, my associate will fund you with the money and in return you will give us 10% of your winning after your $750,000.00 transaction has been completed. I will have my associate overnight you a Certified check of $7,500.00 for you to cash and send the fees/$6,750.00 to our payment center in other to have your transaction completed. List your info in the format below if we have a deal.

1, Full Name :
2, Physical Mailing Address:
3, City :
4, State :
5, Zip-Code :
6, Home/Cell # :
7, Bank Name :

Please use reference number 250-153 for our mutual convenience and forward all email to our Payment Office

Sincerely,
David Collins
Welfare officer,
World Bank Creditors

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam