419 scam: "BARR. STEVE RICHARDSON"<barrsteverichardsons978@gmail.com> URGENT AND CONFINDENTIAL

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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "barr." (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
This email message is a next of kin scam.
Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.

Fraud email example:

From: "BARR. STEVE RICHARDSON" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <barrrichardson@qq.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2013 22:36:07 +0100
Subject: URGENT AND CONFINDENTIAL

Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Barrister Steve Richardson, A solicitor and an Advocate of the supreme court of Ghana;

I worked as a personal Attorney to late Mr. Zulfiqar Ahmed Malik, an expatriate, who was a consultant with GOLD ASSOCIATION OF GHana and a dealer on Gold.

He died on April 21st, 2009. Since then I have made several inquiries as to locate any of his extended

relatives, but all proved abortive. After several unsuccessful attempts, hence I decided to contact you.

I am contacting you to assist in retrieving the money valued at (U S D 25.5M) that was left behind by my client

(Zulfiqar Ahmed Malik) with the UTC BANK Accra Ghana before it declared unserviceable account and be confiscated by the bank.

You can call me with the below telephone number or send a fax confirming the receipt of this letter for more details and prove of assisting on this little deal. Your strong assurance and confidentiality is highly needed.

Best regards,

BARR. STEVE RICHARDSON

(ATTORNEY)

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam