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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "a security company " (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. Never ever send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally. )
  • ",500,000" (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)
  • "utmost confidentiality" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
  • "power of attorney" (with your bank details and a power of attorney form criminals sometimes empty bank accounts)
  • "chambers" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
• This email message is a orphan scam.
• Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.

Fraud email example:

From: eric gad <ericgad24@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:28:08 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: WITH GOOD MIND.


From: Eric Gad
Bujumbura Refugee Camp,
Accra Ghana.

Greetings,
I am Eric Gad, and the only surviving child of late Joshua Gad who traded in gold and diamond before his assassination during the Sierra Leone civil war, my Father, mother, and two brothers were assassinated and burnt beyond recognition by rebels after looting cash, diamonds and gold from my family but somehow spared my life.

Before contacting you, I have seek the advice of few elderly people around me in the refugee camp without letting them know my plan. I was told that even if i send this email to you, you will not believe because of too much scam and other ways of deceiving people. Please understand that this email is not to let you give me money or your bank details but for you to help me in what i feel belongs to me. Please don’t be confused or have doubt about me and don’t see me as bad person because I am not.

I am contacting you in respect of the sum of $4,500.000.00 deposited by my late father deposited in a security company before he died. This money is part of money he realized from the sales of diamonds and gold by him. I got your contact from the Ghana chambers of commerce business executives’ directory and having been convinced that you are capable of handling a transaction of this magnitude, I decided to entrust you with this great task.

My father did told me about this deposit with this security company in Ghana before he died, and when we came to Ghana after his death we found the security company and I confirmed that the box containing $4.5M was still in their safe custody. Due to my refugee status, I am not qualified to claim the deposit hence I have solicited for your help.

Note that my late father deposited the money with the security company as family treasures for safe keeping so the security company is unaware that the actual content is cash.

What I require of you to do for me now is your agreeing that I assign you as the new beneficiary (With utmost HONESTY assuring me that you will not betray me when the box is handed over to you in your country.) by issuing you a power of attorney and making a change of ownership which will authorize you to contact the security company and inform them of your desire to retrieve the deposited consignment to be shipped to you in your country. I agree to give you 40% of the $4,500,000.00. Please treat this matter from utmost confidentiality.

Best Regards,
ERIC GAD..


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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam