419 scam: "Barrister Carlos Haya"<villanet@aol.com> Greeting from Carlos Haya

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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)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
This email message is a next of kin scam.
Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
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.
- barrcarlosh@superposta.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Barrister Carlos Haya" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <barrcarlosh@superposta.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 07:51:52 +0100
Subject: Greeting from Carlos Haya

Dear Friend,

Compliment of the day. Firstly, I must solicit your confidence in this transaction; this is by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential and top secret. Though I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make any one apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that all will be well.

Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Barrister Carlos Haya a personal attorney to Late Ms. Mary Sanchez, herein referred to as my late client. This email might come as a surprise to you, since there was no previous correspondence between us. My purpose of contacting you is for you to help secure the funds left behind by my late client, to avoid it being confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Bank in Spain where this fund valued €6.100, 000.00 (Six Million One hundred thousand Euros) was deposited by my client before her death.

The Bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin or the account will be declared unserviceable and the fund diverted to the Bank treasury, So far all my efforts to get hold of someone related to her has proved abortive. I am actually asking for your consent to present you to the Bank as the Next of Kin/beneficiary of my late client's fund, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you.

I shall provide all the documents to back up the claim as my client's Next of Kin. All I require is your honest cooperation and commitments to enable us achieve this transaction. I wish to point out that I want 10% of this money to be shared among charity Organizations, while the remaining 90% would be shared equally between us. This transaction is entirely risk free. I will use my position as the client’s attorney to guarantee the successful execution of this transaction.

Upon receipt of your response via email, I will provide you with details and relevant documents that will help you understand this transaction.

Warm regards,
Barrister Carlos Haya
Barcelona - Spain
Email; (barrcarlosh@superposta.com)

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam