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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:
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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:
  • "hundred thousand 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.
  • jeffrobert01@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: jeffrobert06@zipmail.com.br
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 16:50:10 +0100
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Good=20News=20For=20You?=

Dear Sir,

I know that this is an unusual platform for us to be discussing this kind
of business but the situation has necessitated me to use this medium to
communicate you for now. But let me introduce myself to you. I am Dr. Jeff
Roberts, the manager of bill and exchange at the foreign remittance department
of my Bank. In my department I discovered an abandoned sum of US$4.5M,(Four
Million, Five Hundred Thousand US Dollars) that belongs to one of our foreign
customers who died along with his wife and only daughter in a plane crash
of Alaska Airlines Flight number 261 which crashed on 31 January, 2000.
You can read more about the crash on visiting this site http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/02/01/alaska.airlines.list/.
The owner of this account is Mr. Morris Thompson an American and great
industrialist and a resident of Alaska.

It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business
proposal to you and for our bank to release the money to you. You have to
follow the instruction which I will send to you as the next of kin or relation
to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming
for it and I don't want this money to go into our bank treasury as unclaimed
bill. The banking law and guidelines here stipulates that if such money
remained unclaimed after 7 years, the money will be transferred into the
bank treasury as unclaimed fund. The money has now stayed more than 7 years
and I am preparing documentation to prove that this money has been transferred
to our bank treasury.

In appreciation of your assistance, I am offering you 30% of the total sum.
5% for contingencies (cost of transfer/other charges) likely to be incurred
during the course of transaction, while the remaining 65% is for me. Upon
receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or email the text of the
application, which you will complete, and forward to our bank asking for
this money to be paid to you as the next of kin to Mr. Morris Thomson. I
will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is hitch-free
and that you should not entertain any fear, as all required arrangements
have been made for the transfer.

You should contact me immediately you receive this mail for further directives
through jeffrobert01@hotmail.com

Yours Faithfully,
Dr.Jeff Robert.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam