419 scam: "Davis Smith"<davissmith4567@yahoo.co.jp> Thank you for your understanding and reply If you are interested, send me the f

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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- ",500,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "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)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Davis Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <Davissmith1@qq.com>
Date: Wed, 15 May 2013 14:34:33 +0200
Subject: Thank you for your understanding and reply If you are interested, send me the following information via email so that we can start processing this t r a n s a c t i o n: -

Dear Sir/Madam. Do accept my sincere apologies if my mail does not meet your personal ethics, but let it remains as top secret for only you and I. I will introduce myself as Davis Smith a staff in the Accounts Management Section of a well-known bank in Europe. One of our accounts has a withholding balance of GBP10,500,000.00 (Ten million Five Hundred Thousand British Pounds Sterling only) and has been Dormant for over 7 years which means it has not been operated for the past 7 years. >From my investigation and confirmation, the owner of this account a foreigner, died in August 2004 and since his death nobody has done anything as regards claiming of this money because he has no family members who were aware of the existence of neither the account nor the funds, I had discussed this matter with some of my bank Top Officials and we have agreed to find a Reliable Partner whom we can present as his N E X T OF K I N. Get back to us with the above information. Thanks

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam