419 scam: "Handtorch Investment Ltd"<alkert@libero.it> New Message

joewein.net

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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:
- "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Handtorch Investment Ltd" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <handtorch.investment@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 05:47:31 +0100
Subject: New Message

Greetings

My name is John carpenter. I am a raw material exporter. I live in Cotonou Benin. I exported some industrial raw materials to one Mr. Mike Barns who live in Montreal Canada and also have business interest in America worth US$350,000. We have been doing business for the past six years with no problem. He paid me US$200,000 in three installments with a balance of US$150,000.

He is not willing to pay me the balance at the time I needed it. I then told him that I have somebody that I want the money paid to in your country that will use part of it to invest in stocks for my grandson. He told me to send the banking details to him as soon as possible.

He will send the money to you once you agree to recieve it on my behalf. Please if you will help me recieve this money, you get 15% of it. I will tell you what you will invest part of it on once the money hits your account.

He will send it to you by wire transfer. For you not to feel that I want to pilfer the money in your existing account, do open a fresh account with either Bank of America or JP Morgan Chase Bank or send us your old banking details if you have an account with any of this bank as he also maintain an account with them. It is easier for internal bank to bank transfer and send us the details. He will wire the money into that account within one week.

I will be waiting for your reply.

John Carpenter

CEO

Handtorch Investment Ltd

Cotonou Benin

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam