419 scam: Gerry Mallon <gm98735445@gmail.com> Urgent message

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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:
- "will come to you as a surprise" (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)
- "foreign exchange" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: Gerry Mallon <gm98735445@gmail.com>
Reply-To: gm88000@yandex.ru
Date: Mon, 19 May 2014 15:04:49 +0200
Subject: Urgent message

From;Mr.Gerry Mallon
Danske Bank
Northern Ireland UK.

Hello

private and urgent

I know that this message will come to you as a surprise since we do not know
each other before,I am Mr.Gerry Mallon of the above mentioned bank in
Northern Ireland.

There is an account opened in my bank in 1997,and the owner of the said
account was a Japanese business man who died of heart failure in 2001 without
relatives nor next of kin to stand as a claim/beneficiary to his
money , and the amount involve is Twenty five million US dollars
($25,000.000.00) only.
Nevertheless, no other person/persons know about this account or anything
concerning it, the account has no other beneficiary.
However,I am only contacting you as a foreigner because this money
cannot be approved to a local account here, but can only be approved to any
foreign beneficiary because the original owner of the account was a Japanese
man.

I will use my position and influence to effect legal approvals and onward
transfer of this money to your account with appropriate clearance forms of
the ministries and foreign exchange departments.
With my position in the bank, this transaction will take us 5 banking days
to complete.
At the conclusion of this transaction, you will be given 40% of the total
amount while 60% will be for me.
Note that with my position in the bank, this transaction can only take us 5
to 6 banking days to complete.
I will resign as soon as the money is transferred to your account to meet
you for sharing and investment.
Get back to me immediately for more details.

Mr.Gerry Mallon
Tel; +44 770 000 6673

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam