419 scam: "Barrister Matthew T. Phillips"<barr.thomasphillips1946@sapo.mz> CAN YOU HELP ME TO CLAIM THIS FUNDS: USD$19,000,000?

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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 state 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)
- ",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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "barr." (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
This email message is a next of kin scam.
Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.

Fraud email example:

From: "Barrister Matthew T. Phillips" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <barr.thomasphillips1946@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:21:29 -0400
Subject: CAN YOU HELP ME TO CLAIM THIS FUNDS: USD$19,000,000?

Attention:

I am Barrister Mathew Thomas Phillips a British citizen, residing in Nigeria and an attorney at law. I would like to share this business proposition with you which will be of mutual benefit to both of us when concluded.

A deceased client of mine and an engineer by profession who happens to share the same last name with you died as a result of a heart related condition on March 12th 2005. His heart condition was due to the death of all the members of his family in the tsunami disaster of the 26th December 2004 in Sumatra Indonesia.

My late client left behind a deposit of Nineteen Million United State Dollars(USD19,000,000.00) in a Nigerian bank and all my attempts to claim this money for over Seven years has been futile whilst all my attempts to locate anyone related to him has proved abortive because the bank directed that i must provide the NEXT OF KIN to my late client before this funds could be released.

I am contacting you to seek your consent to present you as the bona-fide NEXT OF KIN to my late client in order for this funds to be released as i do not want a situation whereby this account will later be declared dormant, whereby it will now become the property of the Nigerian Government because that is what they always do(sitting on dead customers monies).

I can be reached immediately for further information on how to get this sorted and dealt with in due time and measure.

Best Regards,
Barr. Matthew T. Phillips
Attorney at law.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam