419 scam: "Mr. Patrick Obens"<info@sender.com> From: Mr. Patrick Obens.

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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:
- "search for a reliable person" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
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.
- patrick_obens@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Patrick Obens" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <patrick_obens@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2015 06:20:10 +0700
Subject: From: Mr. Patrick Obens.

Att'n: Friend

I am Mr. Patrick Obens, Manager, in a financial institution, located in Asia, Indonesia precisely. I got your contact during my search for a reliable person to entrust this huge transfer project for security reasons.

I write to solicit your assistance on a transfer deal of US$3.8Million. This fund has been stashed out from the excess profit made last year by my branch Bank in which I am the manager. I have already submitted an approved end of the year report for the year 2013 to my head office here in Jakarta and they will never know of this excess.

I have since then, placed this amount on a Sundry account without a beneficiary. As an officer of the bank, I cannot be directly connected to this money thus I am impelled to request your assistance in receiving the funds as the rightful beneficiary.

I intend to part 30% of this fund to you while 70% shall be for me. I do need to stress that there is practically no risk involved in this, it’s going to be a bank-to-bank transfer.(All funds move to your account and we invest if you are ready for that or you return 70% back to the account which I will provide to you).
All I need from you is to stand as the original depositor of this fund.

If you accept this offer, I will appreciate your timely response.

With Regards,
Mr. Patrick Obens
patrick_obens@yahoo.co.uk

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam