419 scam: "james"<amiltz@yahoo.com> FYA

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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)
- "huge amount of money" (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)
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
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.
- jamesander99@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "james" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jamesander99@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2013 23:25:35 +0100
Subject: FYA

Dear friend,

First, I must apologise in advance if the contents of this email do not meet with your approval, but I humbly crave your indulgence.

My name is James Anderson, an accountant by profession. I work with one of the lottery companies, where in my capacity as an accountant in the company, am involved in the preparation and approval of prizes ledgers to our lottery winners.
I have been working with my company for more than 10 years, highly experienced and acquainted with all the financial issues about winnings, out payments and unclaimed winnings.
I am contacting you because we have various amount of unclaimed lottery winnings prizes in my company which I would like to take as an opportunity to better my life, by repatriating some of the unclaimed winning funds for myself. Based on my work experiences here in this company, I know that these funds will be cleared and distributed to several sectors, including health, education and charitable causes at the expiry date of claims, if the winner do not come forward to claim their prizes.
The rules and regulations of my company forbid us as employees not to take part in the draws. In this circumstance, I cannot make claim to these unclaimed lottery winnings in my name. This is the reason why am contacting you to seek your consent to present you as one of the Lucky winners to make claims to one of the unclaimed prizes, that the proceeds of a winner can be paid to you as a winner based on the information am going to pass on to you if we come to an agreement.
My proposal to you is simple and the reality of it can be read and verified on the yahoo news link below:

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/-1-1bn-unclaimed-Lottery-yahoofinanceuk-52515852.html

If you have a good business plan, we can re-profile the claimed lottery winning funds on it or share the funds in the following ratio: 50% for me, 50% for you out rightly.
I will assure you that all modalities for the successful conclusion of this transaction have been put in place and it is 100% risk free. I shall ensure that all relevant information and legal documents that may be needed to actualize this transaction will be provided. All I require from you is your honest cooperation and keep the transaction top confidential, to enable us succeed. I guarantee you that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. I would also need you bear with me for not using my company's letter heading to contact you as it's a proposed personal and confidential project between me and you.
Please note that I am not just looking for anybody to do this with, but a reliable and trustworthy person, based on the huge amount of money involved in this project.
If you wish to work with me, write back soon and if we can work together, I will give you all detailed explanation and information's on the project, stating the easy steps and procedures for us to make the claim and receive the winning prize.
Please reply to my personal email: jamesander99@yahoo.com for now to give me your consent, and then I can provide my personal telephone number to establish communication with you.
I expect your swift response to indicate your interest in this project.

Regards,

James Anderson
Email: jamesander99@yahoo.com

NOTE: PLEASE REPLY AS DECLINED IF DO NOT FIND MY MESSAGE ACEPTABLE.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam