419 scam: "Mr. Marais"<hendrick_marais@yahoo.com.hk> Kindly reply urgently

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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "united state of america" (this email uses bad English)
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.
- hendrick_marais1@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Marais" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <hendrick_marais1@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2012 04:43:27 -0500
Subject: Kindly reply urgently

Dear friend,
I'm Hendrick Marais, 59yrs from United State of America former branch manager of one of the Banks here in US.

As a branch manager, it was my duty to send auditing report to our bank head office at the end of each business year. On the course of 2011 business report. I discovered Twenty million USD (US$20,000,000.00) which our bank head office does not aware of, further my private investigation I discovered that the fund was part of unclaimed deposited funds in our bank by the late Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi under a SECRET CODE DEPOSIT.

You can read more about his death on below link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/20/muammar-gaddafi-dies-city-birth

I've managed to move the fund to an Escrow Account with another bank in Malaysia without beneficiary information before i was diagnosed with lung cancer and now i have short time to live. Because of my illness and security scrutiny in my country (USA) am soliciting your assistance from my sick bed to assist me receive the fund with your account and get 30% of the total fund and also you will benefit from investment made the remaining 70%.

All you need to do is to stand claim as the beneficiary of the fund to enable the Malaysia bank release the fund to your bank account.

Regards,
Mr. Marais.
Email: hendrick_marais1@yahoo.com.hk

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam