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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) 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:

• 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:
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
  • "@lawyer.com" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
  • "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
  • "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.
• Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
• 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.
  • patrickokesi@lawyer.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Larry Mobis <lmobis08@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 15:02:24 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Attn Director Ineed your urgent reply on this Business Proposal


From the desk of Larry Mobis
Union bank of Nigeria Plc
Business Proposal

I am the Manager of Bills and Exchange at the Foreign Remittance Department of the Union bank of Nigeria Plc I am writing to ask for your support and cooperation to carry out this transaction.

We discovered an abandoned sum of $10.2 Million (TEN Million Two Hundred Thousand U.S. Dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our Foreign Customers who died along-side his entire family in November 2005 in a plane crash in Lagos.

Since this development, we have advertised for his Next of Kin or any Close Relation to come forward to claim this money, but nobody came to apply for the claim. To this effect, I and two other officials in my department have decided to look for a trusted foreign partner who can stand in as the Next of Kin to the Deceased and claim this money.

We need a foreign partner to apply for the claim because of the fact that the customer was a foreigner and we don´t want this money to go into the bank´s treasury as unclaimed fund.
Every document to effect this process will emanate from my table and I will perfect every document to be in accordance with the Banking Law and Guidelines, so you have nothing to worry about. We have agreed that 30% of the money will be for you, 10% for expenses incurred on sides while 60% will be for me and my colleagues. If you are going to help me, indicate by replying this letter and putting in your Bank Particulars, Private Telephone and Fax Numbers.

I await your immediate reply to enable us start this transaction in earnest. Once I receive your reply, I will send you the text of application for immediate application of claim.
for security reasons all correspondence to my attorney barrister Patrick Otta on his email
address :patrickokesi@lawyer.com

Thanks for your anticipated assistance
Yours faithfully,
Larry Mobis


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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam