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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:

• 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:
  • "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "you will be given 30%" (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)
  • "chief auditor" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
• 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.
  • mike.robertson358@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:55:35 +0200
Subject: VERY URGENT MESSAGE


Alternative e-mail;
mike.robertson358@gmail.com<http://us.mc398.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mike.robertson358@gmail.com>

Attn: C.E.O
*
*I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise since we dont know
each other before. I am *Mr. Mike Robertson*, the chief Auditor of Amalgamated
Bank of South Africa (ABSA).

There is an account opened in this bank in 1980 and was last operated in
2001. The available cash balance in the account is sum of *(USD$ 12.5m)
Twelve Million Five Hundred* *Thousand United States Dollars* and since 2001
nobody has operated on the account. After going through some old files , I
discovered the owner of this account was Late Mr. ANDREAS SCHRANNER from
Munich,
Germany
and a miner at Kruger Gold co, a Geologist by profession and he died in July
2000 in a plane crash.Below
is a
website which I will
appreciate you to read the information.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
No other person knows about this account or any thing concerning it, the
account has no other beneficiary and my investigation proved to me as well
that his company does not know anything about this account.

If i dont transfer the money out of South Africa now it will be
returned to national
treasury account. I have all it takes to transfer the money to overseas bank
account. I am contacting you because of the need to involve a foreigner with
foreign account as the beneficiary. I need your full co-operation to make
this work out. At the conclusion of this business, you will be given 30% of
the total amount, 70% will be for me.


Please reply urgently on the alternative mail:
mike.robertson358@gmail.com<http://us.mc398.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mike.robertson358@gmail.com>
so
that I will inform you the next step to take immediately. Send me also your
private telephone number.
Thanks,

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam