advance fee fraud

This is a fake account. And the creator is a phisherman or other fraudster.

This fraudster pretends to be a partner with a London law firm called "Richardson Lawyer Chamber" - without realising that the name contains a grammatical error that raises suspicion within the first few lines. And then there's his name: "David T Duddias" - a format very rarely used in the UK. Finally, the mail is sent from a mail address which may or may not be real and may or may not be spoofed but it's in Japan which raises its own questions and his return address is with that current favourite of fraudsters, Outlook.com. As if that's not bad enough, the spam-scam is plain: he wants to commit a fraud against someone else and he wants your help to launder the proceeds. Obviously, what he really wants is to defraud you. Read the full e-mail below.

The advance fee, or 419, scam industry is always looking for new opportunities and the fraudsters like to use genuine background as the reason they make contact with potential victims. A case in the High Court of England and Wales has created the conditions that are ideal for fraudsters as a hook.

The elderly have always been easy targets for fraudsters using "I can fix the hole in your roof" or charity, even religious, scams. But the internet is making it easier for fraudsters to be convincing and the internet is making even direct personal contact practically anonymous. Advance fee fraud no longer relies on mail, telex or fax but on e-mail and telephones, tech that the elderly are predisposed to trust. But sometimes, they fight back....

We'ld like to thank Mr Andrea Van for the opportunity to earn 10% of USD125,500,000. His email address, should you want to take him up on his offer, is mabutdengjok@gmail.com. So, not Andrea Van, then. And he's apparently sent from infor@inbox.com which hardly encourages faith in his bona fides and nor does the fact that he's spoofed that address: inbox.com does not authorise his IP address, 165.227.107.154, for sending mail. So, basically, every verifiable "fact" is a lie. And that's before we get onto what he's offering.