419 scam: "frank"<mas_ton@aim.com> I NEED YOUR EFFORTS.

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
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)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- franbudman@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "frank" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <franbudman@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2015 18:08:51 +0100
Subject: I NEED YOUR EFFORTS.

Dear Friend,
I am francis Budman, working with a deposit firm in Europe, i am in charge of store where all received items are deposited.
There is a deposit which we received from our sister company from republic of Benin , which belongs to In Van Nguyen a Vietnam.
This deposit has been with us for a period of three months without the owner coming for claim.
On the process of re scaning the deposit, i found out that it contains large sum of united states dollars,which i did not disclose the contents officially.

On my personal investigation with the attached documents through vietnam obituary office , i discovered that Van Nguyen has died and left no one as next of kin. I have informed the company that Van next of kin has been located for claiming of his deposit.
So i am contacting you to stand as next of kin for Van Nguyen , so we can move out the deposit to you. If you are interested , kindly inform me through this email address , (franbudman@gmail.com)for more details.
Thanks
Francis Budman

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam