419 scam: "Donald Lucas"<geraldkarpf@aol.com> Read and reply

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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:
- "million united states 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 next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "Donald Lucas" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dl123pin@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 04:23:00 -0700
Subject: Read and reply

Greetings,

I am Mr. Donald Lucas and i work with Guaranty Trust Bank (UK) Limited.

There Is an account opened in my bank in 2003 and since 2007 nobody has

operated on this account again, after going through some old file in the

records I discovered that if I do not remit this money out urgently it would

be forfeited for nothing. The owner of this account is Mr. Pat Groves,

a foreigner and a miner at Mount Resources Ltd. a geologist by profession.

He died since 2007, and no other person knows about this account or anything

concerning it. The account has no other beneficiary and my investigation proved

to me as well that his company does not know anything about his account and the

amount involved is Thirty Six Million United States Dollars.

I am only contacting you as a foreigner because the bank is going to welcome you

as a foreigner that has correct information about the account, which I will give

to you before we proceed. I need your full co-operation to make this work fine.

If you are capable to handle such an amount in strict confidence and trust we

will achieve this money immediately, I will also use my position to influence

approvals and immediate onward transfer of this money to your account for sharing

and further investments.

I look forward to your earliest reply.

Best Regards,

Donald Lucas

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam