419 scam: "Eric Todd"<<>> Greetings to you,

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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:
- "the consignment" (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)
- "trunk box" (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)
- "consignment " (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)
- "trunk boxes" (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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Eric Todd" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <californiahunk576@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2019 08:54:31 +0200
Subject: Greetings to you,

Greetings to you,

I'm sorry if barged in your mailbox without proper introduction, how are you doing today? I have something very important to discuss with you that requires urgent attention, If it's nice to communicate with you here please do let me know or may be you might prefer to communicate with me through a different email for a more secured communication.

What I'm about to discuss with you is something confidential I hope you can handle this properly. I am Eric Todd officer with US Army; presently serving in Yemen for peace keeping. Can you assist me receive two boxes which contains Gold, Diamond and cash worth Millions of United States Dollars for our Mutual Benefit and investment soonest? As you know the Donald Trump administration is working on pulling the US forces out of Yemen just as they did in Syria and that might be concluded any time, we just have to wait till the instruction is given. Therefore I'm using this opportunity to move the consignment to a safe location before the time troops are recalled.

I need your assistance by safe keeping of the two military trunk boxes which I will send to you through Delivery Company here from Syria. You will as well benefit from it and I want to assure you that this is 100% risk free and you have nothing to worry about. Let me know your opinion on this to determine how to proceed, again have a nice day.

Greetings,
From Eric Todd

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam