419 scam: "Mr. Thomas Edison." <destineubaku

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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:
- "into your nominated bank account" (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 british 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)
- ",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)
- "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)
- "here in united kingdom" (this email uses bad English)
- "united state of america" (this email uses bad English)
This email message is a next of kin scam.
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447024069251 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Thomas Edison." <destineubaku_us@yahoo.co.uk>
Reply-To: th000ed@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 09:17:48 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: IMPORTANT

From Thomas Edison.

RE-TRANSFER OF £75,000,000.00 {Seventy Five Million British Pounds Sterling}

Good day.

I am aware that this is certainly an unconventional approach to starting relationship. I am Thomas Edison, a professional accountant in bank of UK here in United Kingdom, and I am the personal account officer to the great late deceased who has an account in our bank here in United Kingdom.

The Management and the Legal department of our BANK OF SCOTLAND PLC) in a recent meeting, Recommended that the account of Mr. Garnet Edward (Ace) Bailey of Lynnfield, MA, United States, who was one of my branch depositors, should be declared dormant, confiscated and the depositor's fund sent to the Bank Treasury according to BANK Of SCOTLAND PLC and other financial laws here in united kingdom, he died in UA Flight 175,as a victims of the September 11,2001.Incident that befall the united state of America and all effort made by the bank to locate his family failed.

He was an account holder in my branch; he owned a British pound sterling account with sum of £75,000,000.00 (Seventy Five Million British Pounds Only) deposited in a numbered account with our Bank. In fact it happened that since his death, the next of kin of the account holder (the brother) or whom ever that is related to him has not show up for the claim, this is as a result that he had the account as a secret account and left the crucial documents for the deposit with me. I am only contacting you as a foreigner because this money cannot be approved to a local/indigenous person here due to law in United Kingdom.

Confirm this by yourself via this web:
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-name/page5.html

If you are interested, please fill and forward me the following information as below:

{1} Your Name/company's name and full address:.............
{2} Bank Name:..........
{3} Bank Address.........
{4} Account No:............
{5} Swift Code.............{if any}
{6} Account Holder's Name: ............
{7} Your telephone Number both Home, Office & Cell/Mobile and fax
Numbers:........
{8} Your Occupation:.........
{9} Your Country:.............

Upon the receipt of the above details, payment will be activated by the feeding of your data into payment system, followed by a signal that will be sent to the paying bank to remit the funds into your nominated bank account within 7 official working days of receipt of the above information from you.

I am waiting very urgent to hear from you.

Best Regards,
Thomas Edison.
+ 44 702 406 9251

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