419 scam: "MR MICHAEL JINLIAN"<michaeljinlian@gmail.com> I NEED YOUR HELP TO HANDLE THIS TRANSACTION

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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 dollars" (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)
- "hundred thousand us dollars" (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: "MR MICHAEL JINLIAN" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <michaeljinlian@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2011 00:20:52 -0700
Subject: I NEED YOUR HELP TO HANDLE THIS TRANSACTION

Dear Sir,
I am the Director Bill Exchange/Payment Verification Department of a commercial bank in China .I write this very important letter to you considering you are capable and kind enough to assist me in this understated business proposal. I am assured of your capability and reliability to champion this opportunity. In my department, we discovered an abandoned unclaimed sum of USD9.2 million Dollars (Nine Million Two Hundred Thousand US Dollars) in account that belongs to one of our foreign customer billionaire businessman, Paul-Louis Halley, 69, who died along with his entire family in 07 December 2003 in a plane crash. Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we can not release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guide lines and laws but unfortunately we learnt that his supposed next of kin his wife Annik Jacqueline Halley, 63, died along side with him at the plane
Trusting to hear from you immediately.

Yours Sincerely,
Michael Jinlian
Director Payment Verification Dept.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam