419 scam: "RAY BALL"<rball20@blumail.org> ATTENTION.

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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.

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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)
- "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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "you will be given 30%" (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)
- "dormant account" (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 next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "RAY BALL" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <rball10@blumail.org>
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2011 11:35:08 +0200
Subject: ATTENTION.

Dear Friend,

My name is Mr. Ray Ball, an External Auditor working with a Prime Bank here in the united kingdom. during our last auditing for the bank, I discovered a dormant account, with a balance of £82,000,000.00 (Eighty Two Million Pounds Sterling). From my investigation, the owner of the said account, a foreigner by name Mr. Jeffry Picower who died since October 25th 2009 for details visit http://rt.com/usa/news/billionaire-death-madoff-scandal/

After all this years, no one has come up with a letter of administration to lay claims for the funds hence myself and my insider in the bank have decided to move the funds to overseas with the help of a foreigner who will stand as the next of kin to the late man in order to move the funds.
Upon the successful transfer of the funds to your account, you will be given 30% of the total amount while 70% will be for me and my partner. If you are interested, kindly get back to me as soon as possible so I can advice you on how to proceed for the successful transfer of the Funds into your account.

Best Regards,

Mr. Ray Ball.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam