419 scam: Bishop Williams <bishop.johnw55@gmail.com> God bless you and your family Amen.

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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:
- "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
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.
- bishop.williams55@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Bishop Williams <bishop.johnw55@gmail.com>
Reply-To: bishop.williams55@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 12:56:51 +0100
Subject: God bless you and your family Amen.

God bless you my dear,
Peace be unto you and your family Amen. My name is Bishop Williams John,
from Canada, I am into missionary work of God here in Cotonou Benin. I am a
Bishop under Church of God mission international. The founder is Late
Archbishop Benson Idahosa, He died in the year 1998, and he was the person
that brought me and my family into this Country, after his death, the
church still retain me as the Bishop of the church here in Cotonou Benin.
My Late Archbishop was a very good person to me and my family, I was the
Executor to his will, but most of the money he made from the missionary
work, he was putting it in Gold Bar, I was the only person that is away of
this gold and where it's saved in the church here, this was because of the
trust he have in me. Now the gold is 350 kg gold bars of 24 karat. A friend
told me that the price of gold is good over there, if you are interested I
can sell it to you or you can help me fine buyer that can buy it at good
price. This is why I contacted you, if you are interested contact me
through my private Email: ( bishop.williams55@gmail.com) hope to hear from
you.

May God continue blessing you and your family Amen.
Bishop Williams John.
(Church of God mission international)

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam