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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:
  • "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "million us 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)
  • "contact me immediately" (they are rushing you so you don't have time to think properly)
  • "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
• 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.
  • edwardjonnes@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "edwardjonnes " <edwardjonnes@yahoo.com>
Date: 23 Jan 2007 20:29:56 -0000
Subject: BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER


FROM THE DESK OF.DR.EDWARDJONNES&nbsp;BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGERFOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPT.BANK OF AFRICA(B.O.A)OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO
Dear Friend,I am the manager of bill and exchange at the foreign
remittance department BANK OF AFRICA .In my
department we discovered an abandoned sum of U.S$25M
US dollars(Twenty five Million US dollars) in an
account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his
entire family in November 2005 in a plane crash on
their visting to nigeria on the 22th of october
2005.Since we got information about his death, we
have been expecting his next of kin to come over and
claim his money because we cannot release it unless
somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation
to the deceased as indicated in our banking
guidlines and laws but unfortunately we learnt that
all his supposed next of kin or relation died
alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody
behind for the claim.It is therefore upon this
discovery that I now decided to make thisbusiness proposal to you, so that the money will be
released to you as the next of kin or relation to
the deceased for safety and subsequent is bursement
since nobody is coming for it and we don\'t want this
money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed bill.The banking
law and guidline here stipulates that if such money
remained unclaimed after two years, the money will
be transfered into the banktreasury as unclaimed bill. The request
of foreigner as next of kin in this business is
occassioned by the fact that the customer was a
foreigner and a Burkina faso cannot be stand as next
of kin to a foreigner.I propose that 30% of this
money will be for you as my foreign artner, in
respect to the provision of a foreign account, 10%
will be set aside&gt;for expenses incured during the
business and 60% would be for me. Thereafter I will
visit your country for disbursement according to the
percentages indicated.Therefore, to enable the immediate transfer of this
fund to you as arranged, you must apply first to the
bank as elation or next of kin of the deceased
indicating your bank name, your bank account number,
your private telephone and fax number for easy and
effective communication and location to wirein the
money where it will be remitted.Upon receipt of your
reply, I will send to you by e-mail a text of the
application which you\'ll fill in and send to the
bank\'s email address. I will not fail to bring to
your notice that this transaction is hitch-free and
that you should not entertain any atom of fear as
all required arrangements have been made for the
transfer.You should contact me immediately as soon
as you receive this letter or further your
clarifications,this is my personal email;address edwardjonnes@yahoo.com&nbsp;&nbsp;Yours faithfully,DR.EDWARDJONNES.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam