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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• 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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "hundred thousand united states 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)
  • "barr." (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.
• 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.
  • muha_halim_shafiq@myway.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Barr. Muhammad Halim Shafiq" <muhammad_shafiq@myway.com> (may be fake)
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 00:54:26 +0800
Subject: Please Your Reply Is Welcome




Dearest,

It may surprise you receiving this letter from me since there was no previous
correspondence between us. I am Muhammad Halim Shafiq a personal
Attorney to Late Mr. Williams A. Hopkin, who was hereinafter called my client.

My purpose of contacting you is for you to help secure the funds left behind by
my late client, to avoid it being confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Bank.
Where this fund valued ($US 4,600,000.00) Four Million Six Hundred Thousand
United States Dollars deposited by my client before his death.

This Bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin or the account will
be declared unserviceable and the fund diverted to the Bank treasury, So far all
my efforts to get a hold of someone related to my late client has proved abortive.
Hence, I have contacted you.

I am actually asking for your consent to present you to the Bank as the Next of Kin/
beneficiary of my late client's fund, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid
to your account, then we can share the fund on a mutually agreed based on percentage.

All the legal documentations to back up your claim as my client's Next of Kin shall
be provided. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us achieve this
transaction.

The intended transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will
protect you from any infraction of the law. However, if this business proposition offends
your moral ethics, do accept my sincere apology. If on the contrary you wish to achieve
this goal with me, kindly get back to me with your interest via this email address
( muha_halim_shafiq@myway.com ) for further explanation.

Regards,

Barr. Muhammad Halim Shafiq
(LLB Hons.)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam