419 scam: John Scott <john.scott95@hotmail.com> Urgent Reply back!

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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:
- "discussion of this transaction in further details" (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)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "dormant account" (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 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.
- johnscott201@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: John Scott <john.scott95@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <johnscott205@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2015 06:16:15 +0000
Subject: Urgent Reply back!

UBS AG
Bahnhofstrasse 45
Postfach 8098
Zürich Switzerland,

GOOD DAY,

I
am a consultant, working with UBS Zurich Switzerland. I will be happy
to execute this deal with you if you have a corporate or personal Bank
Account and if you are capable of handling issues as a TOP SECRET. I
therefore need a strong Assurance that you will never let me down, when I
transfer this money to your account.

Thus during one of our
periodic auditing I discovered a dormant account with holding balance of
US$ 230,000.000.00 { Two Hundred and Thirty Million US Dollars only},
Sometimes a person will open a bank account, deposit money in it, and
then will disappear into the tin air.

Banks are not always able
to find out what has become of these silent customers, or to know
whether they should follow up on requests from people who claim to be
heirs to the accounts. The main problem is that the customer resides
abroad and, due to bank secrecy and code of conduct, the bank cannot
publish notices in the international press to locate the depositaries.
This has led the majority of Swiss banks to refrain from opening
small-deposit accounts for foreign customers; for fear that they will
forget that the account exists.

It has happened in the past,
however, such customers pass away and their heirs can neither prove the
death, nor their heir ship. This was a frequent occurrence during the
wartime periods, also now that have many reports of environmental
hazards with many unknown casualties and the banks have now set up a
simple, rapid resolution procedure operating to their customers'
advantage. Dormant assets are defined as any assets deposited with a
bank (i.e. an account, a custody account or a safety-deposit box) for
which there has been no contact with the customer in the bank's files
for the last ten years or more.

I am constrained to issue more
details about this business transaction until your response is received.
If you know that you will be capable to handle large or small amount on
trust and can to keep all matters secret and ready to take 45% of any
amount I transfer to your account from the dormant account and I will
take 55%, send your account information's by return mail. Tell me
more about yourself, while I look forward to receive the above
information.

I want to re-assure you that this business is risk
free and you can send an empty account to receive the funds, provided
that the account is capable to receive incoming funds.

Look
forward to discuss this opportunity further with you in detail. Please
email me back on this mail address: (johnscott201@yahoo.com) Or provide
me with your phone number for discussion of this transaction in further
details.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Warmest Regards,

Mr. John Scott Axel.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam