419 scam: "Mr. Marais" Very Urgent Kindly Respond

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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)
- "million united state 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)
- ",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 dollar" (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: Fri, 6 Apr 2012 04.49.19 +0200
Subject: Very Urgent Kindly Respond

Dear friend,

I'm Hendrick Marais, 52yrs, branch manager of one of the international Banks here in Malaysia. I have been the personal Fund Manager to the late Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi for many years. Total sum of Ten Million United State Dollars (US$10,000,000.00) was deposited under Escrow Account on behalf of the late president under a SECRET CODE DEPOSIT where none of his personal information was used for the deposit. This is known between two of us before his death in 2011.

And not even our bank head office has information about the owner of the fund. Now that President Muammar Gaddafi is DEAD, I can not be directly have access to this fund as an officer in our bank. So my aim of contacting you is to seek for your partnership to team up with me and receive this fund with your bank account by claiming the title holder/depositor and get 35% of the total fund as commission for your partnership.

There is no risk attached and the funds in question can never be traced. You may wish to read more about late Muammar Gaddafi's death on the below link to confirm.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/20/muammar-gaddafi-dies-city-birth

Kindly get back to me urgently so as to furnish you further details. Also, you can call me on +60166991309 for voice conversation

Regards,
Mr. Marais.
Tel: +60166991309.
Email: hendrick_marais1@yahoo.com.hk

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam