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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

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• 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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "diplomatic immunity"
• 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)
  • "diplomatic immunity" ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
  • "the diplomat " ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
• This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
  
• 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.
  • +447005804896 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • rev.pben1@safe-mail.net (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Fr. Peter Ben" <rev.frpben1@un.org> (may be fake)
Reply-To: rev.pben1@Safe-mail.net
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:50:21 +0100
Subject: Asap!!

DIRECTOR SPECIAL DUTIES,UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION
IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
WORLD BANK FACT-FINDING & SPECIAL DUTIES OFFICE
VICTORIA SQUARE BIRMINGHAM ENGLAND B1 1BB
TEL: +(447)-045-711-839
Dear Friend.
I am Rev. Fr. Peter Ben, a senior staff with the World Bank fact finding & special duties office. I and the Chief security officer (CSO) of this organization have arranged with an officer in the computer section in person of Engineer Peter Cliff to bring out part of your total pending payment with reference number (LM-05-371) amounting to Seven Million United State Dollars (US$7 million). Why we did this was according to information gathered from the bank’s security computer, you have been waiting for a long time to receive this payment without success and i found out that you have met all the statutory requirements in respect of your pending payment. The problem we feel you are having is that of interest groups In Africa.

A lot of people are interested in your payment and those people are merely doing paper works with you and that explains why you receive different kinds of untrue hoax mail messages from different people. We also found out that some of the officials of the parastatals have been extorting a lot of money from you with the pretext of helping you receive your money. I can assure you this will keep happening if you do not do away with those officers.

Your payment is been arranged in a security-proof box weighing 75kg. In order to get this box shipped to you I and the (CSO) Yesterday went to this four courier companies Dhl, Ems, FedEx and Ups to make arrangements on how to get the box shipped to you by courier, but to no avail the above courier companies all made us to understand that they will have to open the box for inspection by the customs before shipment. This is something we want to avoid because this box is been padded with synthetic nylon and to open it you will have to cut the pad before you will meet the button that you will press to open the dial code-lock. There is no way you can open the box and be able to close it again because it was padded with machine. We told the courier services that the box contained film materials and when open will spoil the materials. N:B we did not declare money because courier does not carry money.

A friend of mine who is diplomat disclosed to me that there is a security courier service company that is specialized in sending diplomatic materials and information from one country to another, which with diplomatic immunity and consignment such as this cannot be checked by any customs anywhere in the world. I have therefore met the official of the security courier service and concluded shipping arrangement with them, which they will commence as soon as I have your go ahead order. The diplomat who will be bring in this consignment to you is an expert and has been in this line of work for many years now so we have nothing to worry about.

I am conditionally prepared to assist you get the money and my only condition for this unusual assistance is after all arrangements we have concluded that you must donate Five Hundred Thousand United States dollars (US$500,000.00) to any charity organization i designate as soon as you receive your money. To this effect, you will send to us a promissory note for the donation along with your address where you will like the box to be delivered to by courier. May almighty God bless you. Please maintain topmost secrecy as it may cause a lot of problems if found out that we are using this way to help you until you received your money. Am helping you on this because something in me tells me that you are an honest person. When you conclude this and you send our promise, we will help to ship the final part of your money to you. May God be with you as i wait for your response. Feel free to call me on my private telephone number above for further discussion
E Henceforth,write or Fax me on this my private Email and Fax address below.

Yours Faithfully
Rev. Fr. Peter Ben
Director, Special Duties UN/WBF
Email: rev.pben1@Safe-mail.net FAX: +447005804896

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam