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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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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:
  • "to your nominated bank account" (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)
  • "transaction is risk free" (almost true for the criminal - arrests of online criminals are rare)
• 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.
  • +447094689342 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "David M. Fisher" <davidmjfisher@walla.com>
Reply-To: dvmfisher@yahoo.es
Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2006 00:45:44 +0100
Subject: Please call me on telephone or email me


My dear,
Greetings to you.
I wish to accost you with a request that would be of immense benefit to both of us. Being a senior accounts manager with my bank here in London, it is possible that we may be tempted to make fortune out of our late client's situations, when we cannot help it, or left with no better option.
The issue I am presenting to you is a case of my late customer who before his death made a fixed deposit of 8.2 million pound sterling (£8,200,000.00) for 24 calendar months with my bank in January 1997.
It was most unfortunate that he and his next-of-kin died on the same day in an air crash in september 1998. I am now faced with confusion of who to pass the fortune to.
According to the English banking law, the deposit is supposed to be bequeathed to the government if left unclaimed after a certain period of time. However, I don't belong to that school of thought which proposes that the fortunes of unlucky people be given to the government.
After putting`up series of mails and bank notifications which were sent back uncollected,I later discovered that he passed on along with his wife and only child in the tragic swissair flight 111 air crash in september 1998.
Since I learnt of his death,I have managed his account expecting any of his extended relatives to come forward to claim his money but all attempts to trace his relatives over the years has been fruitless since he did not declare any of his relatives information in his banking records with us.
Added to this, professional ethics obligates us to act with extreme confidentiality when dealing with clients accounts of this type.
Having waited for these years,I am fully convinced that no one would turn up to execute the letter of administration to claim his funds,hence I decided to contact you to come in as the next of kin to my late customer so that the funds totalling £8,200,000.00 can then be transferred to your nominated bank account in your country within 5 working days after we have filed in your claims transfer application to the bank.
I will prepare every operation that will assist you to claim the funds as the next of kin and everything will be left between you and me. The share would be 40% of the total funds for you and 60% for me.
Again, I feel that you may be apprehensive and consider this amount too big for you to defend. It does not matter, as there are documents to back it up.
This transaction is risk free and as the most senior account manager with the bank be rest assured that all documents to enable you get this fund as the next of kin will be carefully worked out by me. Do not be bothered that you are not related in any way to my late customer as I am in position to affix your name as the next of kin.
Kindly send your reply enclosing your Full Names, Mailing Address and Phone Number to my private email address (dmfisher@aggies.com) for confidentiality, to enable me talk to you before I send you the certificate of deposit and other relevant information relating to this fund transfer.
I need not emphasize the confidentiality of this issue and I therefore appeal to you not discuss this request with anybody, even if you decline to take full advantage of this great and urgent opportunity in my bank.
I look forward to your quick reply by telephone or email.
Sincerely,
Mr. David Fisher
Shanghai Commercial Bank Limited,UK Branch
65 Cornhill London EC3V 3NP, United Kingdom.
Private Telephone: +447094689342
Private E-mail:dmfisher@aggies.com

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam