419 scam: "John Wild"<john-wild8473@att.co.uk> re: Treat As Urgent (VERY IMPORTANT)

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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "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)
- "is highly confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "John Wild" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <john.wild72@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2012 08:53:52 -0700
Subject: re: Treat As Urgent (VERY IMPORTANT)

Dear Friend,

I am John Wild a British Nationality, I am an undercover business partner with Late Libyan Leader Son Mutassim Gaddafi, before his dead on 2011 we have a Private account in Asia worth $15.000,000 usd (Fifteen Million US Dollars) for investment without any beneficiary or identification of the principal, because of my health condition and security in my country I can't transfer this fund to my personal account rather I want you to assist me to receive this fund because the bank has informed me to provide a beneficiary immediately .

If you can assist me in this transaction by receiving these funds as a beneficiary I will compensate you with 30% of the total amount and you will also get benefit from the investment.

More details will be send to you when I receive your interest response. Please bear in mind this is highly confidential.

Thanks and best regards,

John Wild

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam