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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)
  • "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)
  • "ecowas " (the name of a person or institution often appearing 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.
  • usmaballo@myway.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: 20002 1958 <usmanballo24@live.fr>
Reply-To: <usmanballo2@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2007 18:29:57 +0000
Subject: GOOD DAY



From: Dr . usman ballo (Esq)Ecowas Regional Investment Bank(ERIB)13 rue du Commerce,BP 346,Lome,Togo. Dear Friend,
With all due respect to your personality, I request that you do not feel disturbed as I know that business of this magnitude will surely make one apprehensive.
I write to solicit your utmost confidence, knowing too well that we have neither known nor met each other before, but because you and the late Mr.William Lewis MAYBE from the same country. Having searched through the internet,from where I got your email address, I hereby request that you become the Next of Kin to the late customer of our bank, Late Mr. William Lewis, who died in West Africa here and abandoned a fixed deposit of Twelve Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (USD $ 12.500.000.00), without a specified next of kin toinherit the deposit at the time of his death.(Maybe he did this because of the fact that he was into crude oil deals called)"Oil bunckering" here in west Africa.
My name is usman ballo , I am an accountant and the accounting officer to the William Lewis in the Ecowas Regional Investment Bank(ERIB). In the financial Laws of the Federal Republic of Togo, the holding bank is required to repatriate any abandoned fund by a foreigner if nobody comes to claim the said funds after three (3) years of the confirmation of the death of the depositor.
For the past three years, all the effort of our Customer Service Department to trace any relative of the Late Mr. William Lewis has proved abortive. I do not want this funds to go into the hands of ourcorrupt government officials, who have embezzled our national funds all these years.
My interest in this abandoned deposit is as follows:
(1) To see that this abandoned deposit is not handed over tothe corrupt government officials of our recent President F.Eyadema.
(2) To make you the Next of Kin to the late Mr. William Lewis and whom he has willed the said deposit before his death.
(3) To ensure that the deposited funds is transferred to you as your INHERITANCE. (4) To ensure that my own share of it is invested wisely in your country in any viable area of investment.
Bear in mind that the entire transaction will be risk - free involvement from your side and legitimate since the funds will be coming to you as your INHERITANCE. If this proposition is acceptable by you, respond to me ASAP but if not acceptable by you, do not take advantage of it to betray me. Remember that doing business over the Internet could sometimes be unconfidential. If acceptable by you, send me your private telephone and fax numbers for me to call you for detailed discussion. Inyour interest you can reach me faster through this alternative email addres usmaballo@myway.com for more detail and informations regarding this deal .
God bless.Dr . usman ballo (Esq) (Accountant, (ERIB),LOME-TOGO).

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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam