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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:
  • "barr." (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: "William Colgate II" <bill@wcolgate11.com>
Reply-To: barrbillcolgate11@yahoo.it
Date: Sat, 08 Oct 2005 18:58:33 +0000
Subject: A BUSINESS DEAL

Hello,

My name is Barr. William Colgate II, the personal attorney to a
multi-investor and former Senior Executive officer of Shell Oil&Gas for 15
years. He has since passed away along with his family On October 31, 1999 in
a plane crash.

For more information about this crash and person's on board you can contact
this website: http://www.ntsb.gov/Publictn/2002/aab0201.htm

My client had deposited Five Million U.S.Dollars (U.S.$5,000,000) at Trust
Bank plc, with hope to transfer it to his home country for a viable
investment while still working with Shell Oil&Gas in Nigeria.

However, since his demise there has not been a trace of any person to claim
the deposited fund which has remained dormant for years. By law I am obliged
to keep this secret within my jurisdiction but new Government laws have made
it imperative that I take this line of action. Orders from the government
have it that all dormant accounts should be sealed up and transfered to the
Federation Account. It is my intention to transfer the investment, before
the law is implemented and the $5,000,000 handed over to some undeserving
goverment officials.

I am prepared to transfer the said amount into your account if you can stand
in as sole beneficiary to the investment and we can then reach a sharing
pattern befitting of this transaction to the both of us. Atleast I can then
be in a position to do the wish of my deceased client and have it invested.

I bless this day I have contacted you and really look forward to reading
your reply

Sincerely,

William Colgate II (Esq)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam