419 scam: "Eric Johnson"<eric.biz.development@mail.ru> Capital Investment

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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:
- "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: "Eric Johnson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <eric.jhn@mail.ru>
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2016 08:56:32 -0500
Subject: Capital Investment

I am Eric Johnson, I am a wealth manager from Barah Investment Limited. I am contacting you because I believe that we can form a very lucrative business partnership. One of our clients is interested in investing in your country. The total amount of funds available for investments is One Hundred Million US Dollars. As I am contacting you now, I have also contacted another 9 different companies with regards to this proposal and will eventually be dealing with the most suitable and capable individual to handle this type of transaction. Due to my client’s political position, he wants this to be carried out carefully and very discretely. This means all the information we transmit in the course of this transaction must be kept strictly confidential.
In order to fully evaluate your capability to handle this transaction, I will proceed to ask you the following questions.
1. Are you familiar with handling large volume of funds before in the past? This does not necessarily have to be as much as the amount described above
2. Do you have a bank account that can accommodate these funds without raising any eyebrow?
3. Do you have any project (s) that require funding? This may be an existing project or a future project. If you do, please give a short summary of the projects. We will be asking for a more detailed executive summary if we eventually decide to work with you. This decision will be based on your answers. Please do not be offended by these questions as we are not trying to undermine you in any way. Due to the amount of funds involved, we just need to know if you are going to be able to handle this transaction.
If you are interested, please reply to this email. You should indicate your full name and contact telephone number so that I can get back to you with more details. This message is for the ATTN of the CEO of this company only. I hope to hear back from you and looking forward to a successful, positive and mutually beneficial relationship with you.

Regards,
Mr Eric Johnson

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam