419 scam: "Mr. James Makabela."<makabela1477@gmail.com> GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT.

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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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. James Makabela." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ethabs2@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 2010 21:09:13 +0200
Subject: GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT.

My Bank has a Balances scheme in which the Government initiative designed to Reinvest money held in
dormant or lost accounts back into local community, social And environmental projects individual
benefit having one trace or the other to such a dormant or lost account which is either current, savings
or domiciliary account that a customer has not used for over 15 to 20 years.
Some years ago my client died leaving behind US$14.7M in my Bank here where I work, nobody has
come forward for the claim, and I contacted you because your name and email contact was among the
findings that matches the same Surname, and would love to reinvest the dormant funds to you, since
you have the same surname. Can I present you as the heir to the deceased? Since I have all necessary
details needed to claim the Funds if interested respond with the following to enable us to proceed in
this matter. 1 Your Full completed names, 2 Telephone & fax number 3 occupation 4 address and age.
Sincerely*****
Mr. James Makabela

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam