419 scam: "Barr James Philips"<barrjamesphilips@hotmail.co.uk> YOUR KIND ATTENTION

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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:
- "necessary legal documents" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "huge deposit" (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)
- "million pounds" (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)
- "chambers" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "Barr James Philips" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <barrjamesphilips@sify.com>
Date: Wed, 26 May 2010 23:02:31 +0100
Subject: YOUR KIND ATTENTION

James Philips Union Chambers
7 Bolt Court,
London EC8A 5DQ
United Kingdom.
Greetings,

I am Barr James Philips a solicitor and legal practitioner based in United Kingdom. I am the personal attorney to Dr. George Brumley who was a consultant with Shell UK LTD here in London, who shall be referred to as my client. On the 21st of July 2003, my client Dr. George Brumley and his family were involved in a fatal plane crash in Nairobi Kenya, West Africa. Unfortunately my client Mr. George and his family lost their lives.Here
is the website of the incident that struck on that faithful day.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/07/20/kenya.crash/index.html

Since then I have made several enquiries to locate any of my clients extended relatives and this has proved unsuccessful. After my several unsuccessful attempts to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you.

I am contacting you to assist in repatriating the money left behind by my client before the money get confiscated or declared unclaimed by the security company where
this huge deposit were lodged,Particularly, the finance company where the deceased had the said fund valued at £55million Pounds has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin.Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 6years, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased so that the proceeds of this account valued at 55 million Pounds can be paid to your account abroad, you will have 25% of the money for your role while I will have 70% and 5% for expenses
that we may incure in the cause of processing the claim.

I have access to all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up any claim we may make. All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us seeing this
deal through.I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

Please kindly get back to me via my private email address for confidentiality.However, your direct telephone number and fax number will needed for easy communication between both of us numbers to enable us discuss further about this transaction and i shall therefore give you my telephone contact for further correspondence.

Best regards,

Barr James Phillips.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam