419 scam: "Thomas Lucas"<mrathpeterson@pickellbuilders.com> I trust in You.

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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.

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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)
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "Thomas Lucas" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <thomas.lucas346@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 16:26:12 -0800
Subject: I trust in You.

Dear Friend,

My name is Thomas Lucas and I work with a Bank here in Valencia-Spain, The name of the bank is ANZ BANK.We had a Mr. Allan P. Smith, customer that had a deposit of ?20.5M (Twenty Million Five Hundred Thousand Euros) before he Died in a plane crash with his wife and only Child about 8 years now (January 30, 2006) and since he died, we in the Bank here have been expecting his/her next of kin/relative(s) for the inheritance of the deposit, but none has surfaced.

The policy of the Bank however stipulates a limited time period for such inheritance to be made or the fund will be written off going by the record of the incident, the time limit for the claim is closing up at the end of the 2014 Financial Fiscal Report Meeting. In this consideration, I am contacting you to seek for your kind understanding and sincere co-operation to claim this inheritance for our mutual benefit.

If you can stand as the next of kin in this project, success is assured because I am in possession of the personal file jacket of the deceased which contains every needed information about the account and the deceased and you and I stand no risk of any kind because I have enough information to support you in claiming the inheritance. The proceedings of the transaction will be shared 50% each after Expenses are reimbursed.

Kindly indicate your willingness by return email or you call for more information, and we shall proceed with the initial step for the claim. The entire project is expected to last for about ten working days.

I look forward to your urgent reply

Best Regards,

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam