419 scam: martins vaye <martinsvaye@gmail.com> I NEED YOUR CO-OPERATION

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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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "there are practically no risks involved" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- "international remittance department" (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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: martins vaye <martinsvaye@gmail.com>
Reply-To: vayemartins13@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2010 04:53:49 -0800
Subject: I NEED YOUR CO-OPERATION

Of Barclays Bank of Ghana
Tamale Branch
Dear Friend,

My name is Mr. Martins Vaye.I am the Auditor of Barclays Bank of Ghana
Tamale branch in the Northern region of Ghana. I got your contact when I was
searching for an overseas partner to assist me through banker's seminar held
recently in Madrid the capital city of Spain.

I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit you and I,as
auditor it is my duty to send in a financial report to my head office in the
capital city Accra at the end of each business year. On the course of the
last two years 2007 business report, I discovered that my branch in which I
am the auditor made ten million three hundred and seventy thousand united
state dollars ($10,370,000.00) which my head office are not aware of and
will never be aware of.I have placed this funds in what we call ESCROW CALL
ACCOUNT with no beneficiary.

As the auditor of this bank I cannot be directly connected to this money, so
my aim of contacting you is to assist me receive this money in your bank
account and get 35% of the total funds as commission.

There are practically no risks involved, it will be a bank-to-bank
transfer,and all I need from you is to stand as the original depositor of
these funds who made the deposit with my branch so that my head office
International Remittance Department can order the transfer to your
designated bank account. I will be very appreciative if you can return to me
with urgent dispatch to enable me advise you on the modalities.

I await to receive your immediate response.

Regards,
Mr.Martins vaye.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam