419 scam: "Mr. Edward Kinston"<kinstonedward@yahoo.com.hk> SPECIAL ATTENTION TO YOU: TREAT AS URGENT.

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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.
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
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.
- professormauricei@yahoo.com (Yahoo; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Edward Kinston" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <professor.iwu62@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Tue, 11 May 2010 08:33:21 -0700
Subject: SPECIAL ATTENTION TO YOU: TREAT AS URGENT.

MR. EDWARD KINSTON
PERSONAL SECRETARY TO THE CHAIRMAN
INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION {INEC). NIGERIA.

SPECIAL ATTENTION TO YOU

Sir,

I crave your indulgence for this proposal . I am the above named person from Nigeria. After the 2007 General Election which was conducted by my boss in Nigeria as the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission {INEC}, He decided to context for the next Presidential Election come 2011 but His close friends within and outside the country advised that he should not hurriedly jump into it based on the Election results which some are still with Election Tribunals. He have some money which he made during his tenure as the chairman of INEC which he deposited with a Security / Finance company in China, Ghana and Canada.

Having been advised not to context in 2011 presidential Election, he have made up his mind to invest the money into profit oriented business outside our country. The money he deposited in China is $5.2 Million while the one in Canada is $9.6 Million and in Ghana he deposited the sum of $4.6 Million.He is now looking for confidentially a trusted and reliable person whom he can use for this investments outside our country.

He have a Financial Attorney who knows much about these funds and he is ready to co-operate with whoever he will direct him to work with regarding the funds.

For further details, contact him on his private E-mail: professormauricei@yahoo.com and include your personal telephone number for more explanations. Please maintain absolute secrecy on this matter even though you will not be interested. He will also be pleased if you can write either to confirm your acceptance or not to enble us source for another person on time.

Your earliest reply will be appreciated.

Yours faithfully,

Dr. Edward Kinston,
Personal Secretary to Prof. Maurice Iwu.
the Chairman,
Independent National Electoral Commission {INEC}.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam