419 scam: "Steve"<donaldben45@yahoo.com.ph> From: Mr.Donald

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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.
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.
- donaldben91@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Steve" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <donaldben91@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2012 03:16:28 -0600
Subject: From: Mr.Donald

From: Mr.Donald

Greetings!
I am Mr.Donald, branch bank manager with one of the bank's here in Ghana. I
made excess profit of US$7,950,000.00 during the last two fiscal years,
which I placed on Escrow Call account without a beneficiary in our bank and
I have since submitted the 2009/10 approved end of the year report to our
head office with this amount unnoticed.

In essence, i need a trustworthy foreigner whom will stand as the original
depositor of this fund, so that the fund will be transferred to his/her
private or company account immediately.

This transaction is bank to bank transfer and no risks involve. I will use
my position to influence this project in other to expedite the transfer by
our bank head office. You will have 35% of the total sum, 5% for expenses
incurred during the conclusion of this transaction while 60% for me.

Await your positive reply for more details and the next step to proceed.

Reply me via my private email....donaldben91@yahoo.com

Best regards,

Mr.Donald

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam