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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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "money laundering" ("anti-terrorist", "anti-money laundering" or "drug-free" certificates are a common way for criminals in fake lottery scams and other Advance Fee scams to get you to send money to them. There are no such certificates in the real banking world. )
  • "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. )
  • "clearance document" (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. )
  • "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)
  • "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)
  • "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
  • "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.

Fraud email example:

From: "Frank Nikoi Kotey Esq." <koteyesq1@biz.by>
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 01:13:53 +0100
Subject: Re: awaiting your call.


Dear Sir,

My name is Mr. Frank Nikoi Kotey, a Ghanaian born in the Greater Accra
Region of Ghana in Sep, 1969. I graduated from the University of Ghana, (BA
Hons. Economies and Geography, in 1994 and LLB Hons. 2004) and the Ghana
School of Law (Qualifying Certificate in Professional Law, 2006). I was
admitted to practice in Ghana as Barrister-at-Law and Solicitor of the
Supreme Court of Ghana in October, 2006. I am also a member of the Law Firm
of Hesse & Hesse Associates, one of the leading Commercial Law Firms in
Ghana.

I am the personal attorney to late (Mr. Harvey Lenn Francis) a Citizen of
Australia who lived in Ghana, he was a well known successful businessman
dealing on alluvial gold dust and bars; a philanthropist who was very
influential to the general public before his death. My late Client left
behind the sum of (USD$14,600,000.00) Fourteen Million Six Hundred Thousand
United States Dollars with a Security Company here in Accra the capital city
of Ghana. In the agreement he reached with the Security Company, he stated
that his Foreign Business Partner in accompany of his Personal Attorney,
will be coming to re-claim the deposit incase of his death. But
unfortunately, he never presented any specific partner to whom the deposit
will be released to before his death.

Thus, my main reason for contacting you is to stand as my late Client
foreign beneficiary so as to retrieve the deposit from the Company for both
of us to share at the ratio of 50%, 50% since the deposit now has an open
beneficiary mandate. As a matter of fact, I will make the vital
documentations ready to give this transaction the needed history /
legitimacy, such as identifying you as my late Client rightful beneficiary
before introducing you to the Company. I also want you to know that this
transaction is a fruitful one with 100% risk free going by the fact that all
the necessary clearance documents that will be required by your Government
before remitting the funds in your bank account showing that the funds is
not a drug money, money laundering or to support terrorist attack are all
intact.

If you accept to work with me, do not hesitate to call me on (+233 20 652
2800) for more clarification. And you are advice to treat this information
with utmost confidentiality to enable us achieve success. Finally, I shall
details you on how to handle everything after you must have shown me your
utmost interest in this transaction. I express my sincere appreciation,
while awaiting your call.

Yours truly,

Frank Nikoi Kotey Esq.
Home: No. 7 Sir Arku Korsah Street,
Roman, Ridge. P.O. Box 12671, Accra.
Office: No. F460/4 Nyaniba Estates, Osu,
Accra. P.O. Box 0514 Osu - Accra, Ghana.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam