419 scam: "Lt. John Brown"<johnbrown@mail.com> Good day to you,

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
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.
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- lt.johnbrown1956@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Lt. John Brown" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lt.johnbrown1956@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:41:16 +0100
Subject: Good day to you,

Good day to you,

I know you would be surprised to read from someone relatively unknown to
you. My name is Lt. John Brown a member of the U.S. ARMY USARPAC Medical
Team, which was deployed to Iraq at the beginning of the war in Iraq.

I would like to share some highly personal classified information about my
personal experience and role which I played in the pursuit of my career
serving under the U.S 1st Armored which was at the fore-front of the war in
Iraq.

Though, I would like to hold back certain information for security reasons
for now until you have found the time to visit the BBC website which I shall
email to you once I receive your response confirming your interest to know
more about my intentions regarding the proposal that I wish to detail to
you, to enable you have an insight as to what I'm intending to share with
you believing that it would be of your desired interest one-way or the
other.
I must say that I'm very uncomfortable sending this message to you without
knowing truly if you would misconstrue the importance and decides to go
public. In this regard, I will not hold back to say that the essence of this
message is strictly for mutual benefit between you and I and nothing more.

I will be vivid and coherent in my next message in this regard. Meanwhile,
could you send me an email confirming the receipt of this message and I
should proceed to send you more detailed information for your absolute
understanding regarding my intentions?
I will await your thoughts via my personal email: lt.johnbrown1956@hotmail.com
Thanks,

Best Regards
Lt. John Brown

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam