419 scam: "Sgt.Ann Hester Lee."<sales2_ks@velo.com.tw> FROM : SGT. ANN HESTER KINDLY TREAT AS URGENT.

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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:
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million us 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)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Sgt.Ann Hester Lee." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sgt.annhester.lee.909@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2010 05:56:25 -0000
Subject: FROM : SGT. ANN HESTER KINDLY TREAT AS URGENT.

Hello Friend,

Greetings to you, I know my message will come to you as a surprise but i want you to know that am contacting you for Friendship and business partnership.I really wish to have you as my good friend/partner and wishes to hand over my funds to you for investments on trust. I will be sending to you my photos and my identity scan copy in my next mail.

I will like to use this opportunity to let you know about me ,I am Sergeant Ann Hester Leigh USA Army ,single,serving in USA army ,my contact address in USA is 74A Van Ness Avenue Westward San Jose -California -United States of America but i was serving in USA Victory Base Baghdad but was posted to work as Security attached with United States of America Embassy Baghdad-Iraq.

I made total sum of 32.5Million US dollars which I have successfully moved out of Iraq to Swift Expert Company for Safe Keeping and to be use for investments with reliable and trusted foreign investor.The funds is oil business money I did with some Iraqi citizens worth over 42 million US dollars, but the 32.5 million US dollars stated is my share on the business and it’s legal. I have successfully moved the funds out of Iraq as family valuables with help of Swift Expert Company.

The most important thing is ''' Can We Trust each other?,Am offering you 30% share of the total funds while we use the rest 70% for our investments.You have to take control of all investments and will be coming to meet with you later as soon as i have vacation but please i have more interest on real estate.Kindly indicate on your next mail if you are really interested to partner with me so i will provide to you more detail information on how we will move forward..

Note that the whole process is very simple and we must keep a low profile at all times and i want all our communications to remain on emails for now.I look forward to your reply and co-operation.

My Regards,
Sgt.Ann Hester.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam