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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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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.

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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "million british pounds" (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)
  • "my direct telephone number" (i.e. "call me on my cellphone at the Internet cafe where we scammers hang out")
• This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
  
• This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +447040116110 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: garyadams007@netscape.net
Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 08:31:44 -0400
Subject: More details/procedure.




Dear friend,

Thanks for the email and your timely response to the facts received in my first email to you and your desire to be a partner to this.

I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of my messages and other forms of communications private and also to kindly respect the integrity of the information you came by as a result of this transaction.

I send you this mail not without a measure of conscience as to what is involved in this transaction, but I know within me that nothing ventured is nothing gained and that Success and Wealth never come on a platter of gold. This is the one truth I have learned from my private banking experience and my clients too.

Do not betray my confidence reposed in you. If we can be of one accord, we can arrange to meet soonest in London, United Kingdom.

I wish to inform you that all contacts between us MUST be restricted to this email account and my direct telephone number +447040116110 for now. I do not want my bank to have you and I linked together during the course of this transaction.

According to practice, the bank will by the end of this financial year broadcast a request for statements of claim to the government, and the government failing to receive viable claims, they will most probably revert the deposit back to our bank. This will result in the money entering our bank's accounting system and the portfolio will be out of my hands and out of the Private Banking Services Department. This will not happen if I have my way and with your genuine support.

Consequently, I would require that you forward an urgent application to my bank, standing as the next of kin to late Mr. Morris Thompson with regard to claiming the abandoned sum of £12.5 Million British Pounds Sterling.

Once I get a favourable response from you, a simple draft of such an application will be sent to you. All you need do then is fill out the application and send it directly to my bank. I shall provide you with the necessary contact information for the bank.

I am looking forward to your prompt response.

Yours sincerely,

Gary Adams.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam