419 scam: "Mr. Simon Pap"<simonpap@sohu.com> From the desk of MR' SIMON PAP

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "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)
- ",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)
This email message is a next of kin scam.
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.
- +448713159471 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
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.
- mr.simon_p@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Simon Pap" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mr.simon_p@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2012 13:04:11 +0530
Subject: From the desk of MR' SIMON PAP

From the desk of MR' SIMON PAP
LLOYDS TSB BANK PLC.
MOBILE/CELL: +44 871 315 9471
Email; mr.simon_p@yahoo.co.uk

I am Mr. Simon Pap, the chief accountant of LLOYDS TSB BANK PLC. There is an account open in this bank in 1999 and since 2001 nobody has operated on this account again. After going through some old files 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. Andreas Schranner, A German Businessman and a miner at Kruger Gold Company, a Geologist by profession and he died since 2000.No other person knows this account or anything concerning it, the account has no other beneficiary and my investigation proved to me as well that this company does not know anything about this account and the money involved is Twenty Five Million United States Dollars (USD$ 25,000,000.00).

I want us to first transfer USD$10 Million from this money into your safe overseas account before the rest. I am only contacting you as a foreigner because this money cannot be approved to a local bank here, but can only be approved to any foreign account because the money is in United States Dollars and the former owner Mr. Andreas Schranner is a foreigner too. You can view the web site bellow for more information on our late client.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm

This deposit was for 5 years so it has over matured hence I made effort to contact my client but could not reach him. I was forced to travel to Germany and there I got the tragic news that, my client Mr. Andreas Schranner, his wife Maria, their daughter Andrea Eich, his son in law Christian, and their children Maximilian and Katharina, all perished on the Monday, 31 July, 2000 plane crash in western German city of Moenchengladbach. We cannot release the fund from his account unless someone applies for claim as the next-of kin to the deceased as Indicated in our banking guidelines. It may interest you to know that I can have secured from the probate an order of mandamus to locate any of deceased beneficiaries

I need your full co-operation to make this work fine because the management is ready to approve this payment to any foreigner who has correct information of this account, which I will give to you as soon as you indicate your sincerity to co-operate with me, and capability to handle such amount in strict confidence and trust according to my instruction and advice for our mutual benefit because this opportunity may never come again in my life. Please acknowledge receipt of this message before we negotiate your percentages on your response for conclusion of this project, while the rest shall be for us for investment purposes, if this proposal is acceptable to you, do not take undue advantage of the trust I have bestowed in you. I wait to hear from you soonest. Upon your acceptance of this proposal kindly reply me via this email mr.simon_p@yahoo.co.

Yours sincerely,
Mr. Simon Pap
LLOYDS TSB BANK PLC.
MOBILE/CELL: +44 871 315 9471
Email; mr.simon_p@yahoo.co.uk

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam