419 scam: "Mrs Ruth Smith" <ruthsmith102@att.net> Re: Waiting your response.......

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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)
- "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)
- "00,000.00" (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.
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +22999047791 (Benin, probably a prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs Ruth Smith" <ruthsmith102@att.net>
Reply-To: <ruthsprivate@rediffmail.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:10:58 +0100
Subject: Re: Waiting your response.......

From: Mrs. Ruth Smith
Tel: 00229 990 477 91
Date: 25th April 2011

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Mrs. Ruth Smith, the confidential Secretary to the Central Bank of Benin Republic Governor (CBR) Dr. Raymond Herlve. I have urgent information, which is vital to you, if you promise that you will not betray me.

The information is about your outstanding contract payment with the Federal Government of Benin Republic, which you are supposed to receive through the Eco-bank Benin Republic. My boss and some of his colleagues in other ministries that are involved in your transaction has conspired to divert your fund to another account, and the strategy they employed is by demanding several charges from you, so that you will feel frustrated and abandon the fund, thereby it will open an avenue for them to refer your fund as unclaimed and it will be transferred to their coded account. Recently, our President Dr. Boni Yayi mandated my boss to release partial payment of your fund to you, but he did not pass the information to you as he kept the letter on my care.

Please this information I am giving to you is a great risk on my side, but I know that if you get your partial payment of U$D3.5 000,000.00 (Three Million, Five hundred thousand US Dollars) as directed by the Presidency in the mandated, you will not forget my effort.

Please if you are not going to put me into trouble about this development, kindly contact me through my email address for further details on how to proceed towards the successful remittance of your fund.

I look forward to hear from you.

Best regards,

Mrs. Ruth Smith

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam