419 scam: "simonsimpson@lawyer.com"<alert@lawyer.com> PRIVATE Opportunity OFFER

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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:
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "@lawyer.com" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
This email message is a next of kin scam.
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.
- simonsimpson@lawyer.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "simonsimpson@lawyer.com" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <simonsimpson@lawyer.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:01:31 -0000
Subject: PRIVATE Opportunity OFFER

PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL:

Dear Trustee,

Am here as what we can call a good luck e-mail or a whisker of luck from me to you and I request that you treat as such. I am Simon Simpson, the Auditor General of Shell Co-operative Union in Nigeria based in london [United Kingdom]. During the course of our auditing, we discovered a floating fund in an account opened in the bank in 1995 and since then nobody has operated on this account that belongs to one of our late Customer (Engr. Mark Davey) From Britain hereinafter referred to as 'my customer' who worked as contractor with Mobil an oil magnate in my country and was killed as a result of an armed robbery Attack On Monday, 6 April, 1998. You can visit this link to read more about him ; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/74779.stm

Until now no other person(s) knows about his account or could give any documentary evidence concerning this account Since the death of my customer in April,1998, I have written several letters and e-mailed with an intent to locate any of his extended relatives whom shall be claimants/beneficiaries of his abandoned personal estate and all such efforts have been to no avail.

More so,late (Engr.Mark Davey) deposited the sum of $9.9M Nine Million Nine Hundred Thousand now [$7.4M] USD,On this note i decided to search for a credible person and finding a similar last name {Davey},was a tough task to find and the one we found who wasn't the same last name as (Engr.Mark Davey) made away with $2.5M on the first transactionto him,so trusting one is another issue regarding this.So i decided to contact you that I may,with your consent, present you to the "trustee" bank as late (Engr.Mark Davey) family friend so as to enable you put up a claim to the bank in that capacity as a next of kin.

I propose that you will be in charge of the funds and the set we have in plan in setting up companies and properties with the funds in conclusion of this deal in so far as I do not incur further expenses and u dont either. Therefore, to facilitate the immediate transfer of this fund, you need, first to contact me via signifying your interest and as soon as I obtain your confidence,I will immediately appraise you with the complete details as with which you are to proceed and i shall direct on how we will put up an application to the bank,through me with this transaction.

However, you will have to assent to an express agreement in order to bind us in this transaction. Upon the receipt of your reply,I will send you by fax or E-mail the next step to take.I will not fail to bring to your notice that this proposal is hitch-free and that you should not entertain any fears as the required arrangements have been made for the completion of this transfer. Like I have implied you and you don't need to be a blood relative, I require only a sole confidentiality on this.

If you feal in your heart u can be trusted and interested, kindly send your Full Name, Address, Phone number, Occupation, Sex, Age and Nationality to my personal email: [simonsimpson@lawyer.com]

Please I would like you to keep this proposal as a top secret and delete it from your mail if you are not interested.

Best regards,

Simon Simpson.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam