419 scam: "Mr. Andrew Smith"<andrewsmith@mail.com> CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.

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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:

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)
- "foreign exchange" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Andrew Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <andrewsmith1974@rocketmail.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 07:26:31 -0700
Subject: CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.

Dear Friend,

I would like to seek your help in a business transaction; I am Mr Andrew Smith, 48 years of age, I'm a British citizen. I worked with a bank as Supervisor of Bills and Foreign Exchange.

Here in our bank there is an existing dormant account for the past 9 years which belong to a late customer (Gene Billings) who died on Egypt Air Flight 990.

When I discovered that there had been no deposits or withdrawals from this account for this long period, I decided to carry out a system investigation and discovered that, none of his family member or relation is aware of this account.

Now, I want an account overseas where the bank will transfer these funds. Thereafter, I had planned to destroy all related documents for this account. It is a careful network and for the past eleven months, I have worked out everything to ensure a hitch-free operation. The amount is not so much at the moment and plus all the accumulated Interest the balance in this account stands at (US$10.7 MILLION).

If you can cooperate with me in this transfer, consider this and get back to me as soon as possible. Finally, it is my humble prayer that the information as contained herein been accorded the necessary attention.

PLEASE DROP YOUR FULL NAMES, CURRENT ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE NUMBER TO ENABLE ME CALL YOU.

Best Regards,

Mr. Andrew Smith

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam