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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:
  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:

• 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)
  • "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)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.
• This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +27730390350 (South Africa, prepaid mobile phone)
• 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.
  • shabangspeterson@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "peterson shabang" <petersonshabang8@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 08 Jun 2006 14:18:20 +0100
Subject: PARTNERSHIP INVITATION

FROM: PETERSON SHABANG
ABSA BANK SOUTH AFRICA.

TELEPHONE: +27 73 039 0350

Dear Friend,

With all due respect to your personality, I request that you do not feel disturbed as I know that business of this magnitude will surely make one apprehensive.

I write to solicit your utmost confidence, knowing too well that we have neither known nor met each other before, but because you and the late Mr.Robert Baker are from the same country. Having searched through the internet, from where I got your email address, I hereby request that you become the Next of Kin to the late customer of our bank, Late Mr.Robert Baker, who died in South Africa here and abandoned a fixed deposit of Nine Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States dollars(USD $ 9.500.000.00), without a specified next of kin to inherit the deposit at the time of his death.

My name is SHABANG PETERSON. I am an accountant and the accounting officer to the Mr.Robert Baker in the ABSA BANK SOUTH AFRICA. In the financial Laws of the Republic of South Africa, the holding bank is required to repatriate any abandoned fund by a foreigner if nobody comes to claim the said funds after three (3) years of the confirmation of the death of the depositor. For the past three years, all the effort of our Customer Service Department to trace any relative of the Late Mr.Robert Baker has proved abortive. I do not want this funds to go into the hands of our corrupt government officials,who have embezzled our national funds all these years.

My interest in this abandoned deposit is as follows:

1) To see that this abandoned deposit is not handed over to the corrupt government officials of President Thabo Mbeki.

2) To make you the Next of Kin to the late Mr.Robert Baker and whom he has willed the said deposit before his death. 3) To ensure that the deposited funds is transferred to your account as your INHERITANCE? so that the proceeds of this account valued at Nine Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States dollar (USD$9.500.000.00) can be paid to you and then you and I can share this money. 60% for me and 35% for you, while 5% should be for expenses or tax as your Government may require.

4) To ensure that my own share of it is invested wisely in your country in any viable area of investment. Bear in mind that the entire transaction will be risk- free and legitimate since the funds will be coming to you as your INHERITANCE.

If this proposition is acceptable by you, respond to me ASAP by REPLYING TO MY PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS: (shabangspeterson@yahoo.com) but if not acceptable by you, do not take advantage of it to betray me. Remember that doing business over the Internet could sometimes be unconfidential. If acceptable by you, send me your private telephone and fax numbers for me to call you for detailed discussion.

Kind regards,

PETERSON SHABANG

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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam