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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
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• 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:
  • "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)
  • ",000,000" (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)
  • "contact me immediately" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
  • "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
• 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.
  • gmikethomp001@yahoo.com.hk
  • mikethompson004@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: mikethompson004@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:07:15 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: RESPOND URGENT TO BECOMING THE FUND NEXT OF KIN.


§Ú¦³·sªº¹q¶l¦a§}¡I§A²{¥i¹q¶lµ¹§Ú¡Gmikethomp001@yahoo.com.hk



- Dear Friend, I am the manager of bill and exchange at the foreign remittance department Deroyal finance London, In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of 20,000,000 GBP (TWENTY MILLION BRITISH POUNDS) in an account that belongs to one of our customer who died in October 1st 1999 in Egypt Air Flight 990 plane crash, Since I got the information about his death, I have been expecting his next-of-kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless some body applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines but unfortunately, I feel that all his supposed next of kin or relation may have died alongside with him at the plane crash, It is therefore upon this that I and other officials in my department now decided to track his last name over the Internet searching, to locate any of his matching name to be easy to claim the fund as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it. We don't want this money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed bill. So, since you have the same last name with him, therefore the release of this account valued of 20,000,0000.00GBP (Twenty Million, British Pounds starlings) will be paid to your bank account and then you and I will share the money,70% to me and 30% for you, So contact me immediately with this email address: mikethompson004@yahoo.com.hk for more details,Thanks,Mike Thompson.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam