419 scam: "Mr. Smith Howard"<smithhoward001@gmail.com> RE: STRICKLY CONFIDENTIAL !!!

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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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million united states 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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "you will be given 30%" (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)
- "foreign exchange" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "chief auditor" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Smith Howard" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <smith-howard@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:36:52 +0200
Subject: RE: STRICKLY CONFIDENTIAL !!!

MR. SMITH HOWARD
HSBC LONDON
London

Dear Friend,

In order to transfer out (USD 175M) One Hundred and Seventy-Five Million United States Dollars) from HSBC BANK LONDON UK. I have the courage to ask you if you are capable,reliable and honest to assist us with this important business believing that you will never let me down either now or in future.

I am Mr. Smith Howard, the Chief Auditor of Hsbc Bank London . There is an account opened in this bank in 1998 and since then nobody has operated on this account again.

After going through some old files in the records, I discovered that if I do not remit this money out urgently,it would be forfeited for nothing. The owner of this account is Mr.Saheed Abdel a foreigner from Iraq and i understand that he is one of sadam hussein top official,and he died during the last attack.He opened a non-residential U.S dollar bank account.Since then no other person knows about this account or any thing concerning it, the account has no other beneficiary and my investigation proved to me as well that this company does not know anything about this account and the amount involved is (USD 175M) One Hundred and Seventy-Five Thousand United States Dollars . I want to first transfer US$75,000,000:00 Seventy-Five million United States Dollars from this money into a safe foreigners account abroad before the rest is transfered,but I don't have any foreign partner.

I am only contacting you as a foreigner because this money cannot be approved to any other person other than the next of kin to Mr.Saheed Abdel.I know that this message will come to you as a surprise as we do not know ourselves before now,We will then sign an agreement,but be sure that it is real and a genuine business transaction.

I only got your contact address from International Business Directory,with believe in God that you will never let me down in this proposed business.You are the only person that I have contacted in this regard, so please reply urgently so that I will inform you of the next step to take immediately and if you are not interested please do not respond to this message.

Send also your private telephone and fax number including the full details of the account to be used for the deposit. I want us to meet face to face or sign a binding agreement to bind us together so that you can receive this money into a any reliable account of your choice where the fund will be safe. And I will fly to your country for withdrawal,sharing and other investments oppourtunities as well.

I am contacting you because of the need to involve a foreigner with foreign account and foreign beneficiary.I need your full co-operation to make this work, because the management is ready to approve this payment to any foreigner who has correct information of this account which I will provide to you later.

Furthermore,with my position now in the office this funds as i speak to you has been deposited in our private security vault in BELGIUM and i can present you as the beneficiary of this funds whereby you and i will fly down to belgium to endorse the final release document and i do not want you to be worried about how the funds will be transfered because that is my profession.

I will apply for annual leave immediately I hear from you that you are ready to act and receive this fund in your account. I will use my position and influence to effect legal approvals and onward transfer of this money to your account with appropriate clearance forms from the ministries and foreign exchange departments.

At the conclusion of this business, you will be given 30% of the total amount,65% will be for me, while 5% will be for expenses both parties might have incurred during the course of this transaction.

Lastly,i want you to be aware that this transaction will require personal expenses from both parties to avoid any suspecion).

I look forward to your earliest reply

Mr. Smith Howard

PLEASE DO NOT FAIL TO INCLUDE YOUR PRIVATE TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBER WHILE REPLYING THIS LETTER FOR EASY COMMUNICATIONS.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam