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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:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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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:
  • "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)
  • "your urgent reply" (they are rushing you so you don't have time to think properly)
• This email message is a orphan 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.
  • stellawilliamsakuma@yahoo.ie

Fraud email example:

From: "Stella Aku" <stellaaku@msn.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 05:41:37 +0000
Subject: Happy new year.

From: Stella Williams Akuma
Accra, Ghana.
Email :    stellawilliamsakuma@yahoo.ie 

Good day and how are you today? I hope fine? ,Permit me to inform you of my
desire to invest in your country under your care, I'm Stella Williams
Akuma (18) and the only survival daughter of Late Williams Akuma, My father
was a very wealthy cocoa merchant here in Ghana, he produce and export
cocoa/coffee to other countries before his surden. My mother died when i was
a week old and since then I am motherless.

Before the death of my father on April. 2005 in a private hospital here in
Ghana, he secretly called me by his bed side and told me about his
condition, he enclosed to me the sum of Six million Eight hundred thousand
United States Dollars USD ($6,800,000) deposited in a suspense account in
the bank here in Ghana. He told me that the money was deposited for onward
investment overseas that I should seek for a foreign partner from any
country of my choice (outside my country,Ghana) who will assist me transfer
the money and invest it wisely for my future. my father warned me not to
disclose this to anyone here to avoide them to kill me and inherit the
money.

I an humbly seeking your assistance to transfer the money to your country
and invest it into any profitable ventures in your country.
following are the areas I need your assistance:
(1) To provide a bank account and assist me facilitate the transfer the
money into your bank account.
(2) To assist me come over your country to further my education while you
will be my investor and gaurdian. If you accept to stand as my guardian or
foster parent, I am willing to offer you 20 % of the total money as
compensation for your assistance. As soon as i recieve your urgent reply
indicating your interest and readiness to assiat me, I shall send proofs and
my picture, I will be glad to read your reply with your full informations,
your home or office address, telephone number and your picture in return to
this message. 

Reply to my strictly on my private email address: 
stellawilliamsakuma@yahoo.ie 
Yours sincerely,
Stella Williams Akuma

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam