419 scam: "Gen J Mills"<ivanting@startec.com.hk> I need your help

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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:
- "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)
- "million us 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)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Gen J Mills" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <genjmills@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2012 05:29:19 -0600
Subject: I need your help

Greetings,

I apologize for sending you this sensitive information via e-mail instead of a Certified mail/Post-mail. This is due to the urgency and importance of the information.This project is based on Trust, confidentiality and sincerity.Dont feel skeptical about this sudden letter coming from a remote country far away and probably from someone you are not closely related with.But all the same,I believe we do not need to be of blood relatives before we can establish cordial relationship.

I am General Joel Mills,Director National Security Agency (DIRNSA), Chief, Central Security Service (CCSS) and Commander, United States Cyber Command stationed in Afghanistan for the NATO peace keeping.As you may know that all NATO peace keeping soldiers in Afghanistan are attacked by insurgents everyday.On the 27th august 2011 death of Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman Multimillion mansion in Marja the northern part of Afghanistan was invaded some troops which was led by me,the more we discover ammunition used for terrorism in their hide out,the more we discover treasures and at the end of that mission we gathered money worth over 50 million US dollars which was shared among us without turning it to the authority because we are the ones bearing the risk here.My own share of the Money is worth 7 million United States Dollars . You may wonder the reason why i have contacted you, but is to help me safe keep the funds until my assignment is over.

I am ready to compensate you with good percentage of the funds, No strings attached, just for you to help me keep the funds when i succeed in moving it out of Afghanistan. Note, Afghanistan is a war zone,i am planning on using a secured means in shipping the money out as military cargo through the help of the Red cross jet.I will explain more when i hear from you.Dont betray this trust i have on you ?This is risk free.

God bless.
General JM

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam