419 scam: "GEORGE SMITH"<jonayfgtbank@o2.pl> HELLO MY DEAR GOOD FRIEND,(CONFIDENTIAL MESSAGE)

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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.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "good day friend" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
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.
- smitgeorge@o2.pl (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "GEORGE SMITH" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <smitgeorge@o2.pl>
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:03:06 -0700
Subject: HELLO MY DEAR GOOD FRIEND,(CONFIDENTIAL MESSAGE)

Good Day Friend

I am Mr. George Smith, Branch Manager of United Bank Of Africa (U.B.A). I would like to know if this proposal will be worth while for your acceptance.
I am the account officer of a Foreign Customer who deals with Crude Oil Merchant and also run Federal Government Contractor.He was a victim of air crash with the whole passengers dead on Sunday, 11 December 2005.
He left a closing balance of $10.3m in one of his Private US Dollar Account that is been managed by me as the Customer's Account Officer.
Base on my security report, these funds can be claimed without any hitches as no one is aware of the funds and its closing balance except me and the customer (Now Deceased) therefore,
I can present you as the Next of Kin and we will work out the modalities for the claiming of the funds in accordance with the law. If you are
interested, Please email me on smitgeorge@o2.pl to discuss in further details and our sharing ratio will be 60% for me and 30% for you.while 10% will be for the expences that might occur along the line.
Thank you, Sincerely.
Mr. George Smith

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam