419 scam: "MARY WILLIAM"<admin@test.cn> Greetings. Dear Beloved 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:
- "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)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "MARY WILLIAM" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <afizmail09@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2018 12:41:11 +0100
Subject: Greetings. Dear Beloved Friend

My Dear Beloved Friend,

Greetings. Please let this not sound strange to you because I am not
asking you of money, for my only surviving lawyer who would have done
this died early this year. I prayed and got your email address from
your country's guest book which I have been with my late husband and I
wish to visit once more if God will in his infinite mercies grant me.
In function of your good profile, I want to solicit your assistance in
the discharge of my will. I am Mrs.Mary Williams from London and am
aged 65 years suffering from endometrial cancer. Please, I want you to
help me create a charitable project with the money that I inherited
from my deceased husband who died in a motor accident. I was brought
up from a motherless baby's home and was married to my late husband
for twenty nine years without a child.

My friends have plundered so much of my wealth since my illness and I
cannot live with the agony of entrusting this huge responsibility to
any of them anymore, so I sold all my inherited belongings and
deposited all the sum of Nine Million Pounds with my bank. All I need
is an honest person who will use at least %60 of the funds as I
instructed, then the rest %40 will go to you for helping me accomplish
this mission because donating this money to charity is the only legacy
I can leave behind after my death.It is my heart desire to make a
generous gift to you to work for a charity in your country, I don't
mind if you are a Christian or Muslim, but I don't know if I can trust
you because there are greedy and fraudulent people over the world. I
will give you more details as soon as I hear from you.

Looking forward for your urgent response.

Regards

MARY WILLIAMS

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam