419 scam: "Thomas Sears"<thomsear@gmail.com> Dear Friend,

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
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)
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.
- thomsears@usa.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Thomas Sears" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <thomsears@usa.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2011 22:04:44 +0100
Subject: Dear Friend,

Dear Friend,

My name is Col. Thomas Sears, a US Army serving in the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq. I want you to read this mail carefully and understand it. In 2003, my men and I found over $900 million in Saddam Hussein's hideout in Baghdad, we sent some back to the Iraq government after counting it in a classified location, but we also kept some behind for ourselves. Some of the money we shared among ourselves worth over $200million, I kept mine for a while in a secured place. I need someone to help me, I found a secured way of getting the package out of Iraq for you to pick up through the help of a Diplomatic Company . I do not know for how long I will remain here as I have been lucky to survive 2 suicide bomb attacks by Pure Divine intervention. I just need someone I can trust lost a box of gold to someone that said he will help me, I won't like to make the same mistake. The total amount of money is $10million. View the below link to verify/confirm my statement.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm

If you can handle this deal let me know immediately, you will receive 25% of the money , all you need to do is to find a safe place where you can keep the box till i leave Iraq. Get back to me immediately at: thomsears@usa.com
Regards,
Col. Thomas Sears,
US Military Baghdad, Iraq.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam