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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:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

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:
  • "first national bank" (not involved with lotteries)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "transfer into your account" (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)
  • "former president of liberia" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
  • "liberia" (a location commonly mentioned 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.
  • +27785702497 (South Africa, prepaid mobile phone)
• 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.
  • thomassthabalala2@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: thomas sthabalala <thomassthabalala9@hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2007 11:36:13 +0200
Subject: URGENT ASSISTANCE



From: Mr Thomas Sthabalala Email:thomassthabalala2@yahoo.com Telephone: +27-785702497 Dear Friend , If I may crave your indulgence to introduce myself uninformed, my name is Thomas Sthabalala, a staff of First National Bankof South Africa here in South Africa and a private account officer of Former Military President of Liberia. Gen. Charles Taylor. I have a profiling amount under my control to transfer into your account for safe keeping and investment purpose , but before I further on with the present position of the funds and modalities put in place to ensure its successful transfer, I would like to apologize for sending you this mail prior to notifying you. If you are conversant with events relating to the former president of Liberia, you would agree with me that he was arrested some months ago at Lake Chad while trying to flee and hide from UN self arrest request for War Crime. The former Liberian President account with The First National Bank of South Africa was used between late 90’s till date to starch 100 of millions of United States dollars and subsequently transferred to other accounts of his across the globe. As the situation stands now, I and some of my colleagues had in the account a balance of 25M GBP which we seek your assistance to accommodate for us in your account, as the President is about to be locked away for life by UN for charges of WarCrimes, involving multiple rape, murder and mutilation of hundreds of thousand in west Africa. The funds presently have been taken to Finance/security company in London for safe keeping. So we need your assistance to proceed to London and secure this funds for us since we cannot keep this money under our custody while still in active bank duty. Please if you are interested; get back to me with your contact details to enable us forge ahead. Please also keep this transaction to yourself. NOTE: YOU SHOULD CONTACT ME ON MY PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS {thomassthabalala2@yahoo.com} Yours faithfully Mr Thomas Sthabalala
_________________________________________________________________
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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam