419 scam: Barrister John Finley <johnfinleychambers@gmail.com> Dear Friend

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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)
- "hundred thousand 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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
This email message is a next of kin scam.
Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
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.
- johnfinleychambers1@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Barrister John Finley <johnfinleychambers@gmail.com>
Reply-To: johnfinleychambers1@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2021 23:50:13 +0800
Subject: Dear Friend

Dear Friend
Please kindly accept my apology for sending unsolicited mail to you I
believe you are a highly respected personality considering the fact that I
sourced your profile from a human resource profile database in your
country.
I am Barrister John G. Finley, I am the Personal Attorney to my late client
Mr. Joe who is a business mogul here in London and have the same last name
with you, he owns a gold mining company. On the 21st of April 2010, he lost
his life, together with his wife and their three children while involved in
a car accident along London City Express Road.
Unfortunately, they all lost their lives in the event of the accident.
Since then I have made several enquiries to your Embassy to locate any of
my client's relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful. After these
several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to contact you to assist in
repatriating the money left behind by my client in a Financial Institution,
where the deceased deposited the sum of $9,700,000.00 USD (Nine Million
Seven Hundred Thousand US Dollars). Consequently, the Financial Intuition
has issued me a notice to provide the Next of Kin to claim the
$9,700,000.00 USD (Nine Million Seven Hundred Thousand US Dollars) in their
custody. Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over
9 years now, I seek for your consent to present you as the next of kin to
my deceased client to claim the deposit from the institution, so that the
fund will be transferred to your account by the financial company since
both of you have the same last name.
You will apply to the bank as the next of Kin to the deceased customer,
while I will provide all the necessary documents to back up your claims.
The account has an open beneficiary status that is why I have contacted you
to come forth and claim the funds as the next of kin and beneficiary. Since
he is from your country and you both share the same last name. Hence, it
will be easy for you to become his official next of kin. If we do not make
claim to the funds now, the funds would be reverted back to the government
treasury as an unclaimed estate at the expiration of a 10 years dormancy
period.
All I require is your honest co-operation and maximum assistant to enable
us see this transaction through. I guarantee you that this will be executed
under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the
law.
If you are willing and ready to execute this mutual transaction kindly feel
free and contact me through my private email address (
johnfinleychambers1@gmail.com) with your contact details.
Best regards.

John G. Finley (Esq.)

N/b: Please do contact me solely on my private email (
johnfinleychambers1@gmail.com) for,
any exclusive information relating to this inheritance claims.
Thank you

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam