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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 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)
  • "await your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
  • "remain blessed" (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
• This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
  
• 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.
  • heather625@excite.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: heather625@excite.com
Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:36:58 -0600
Subject: MOST URGENT.

Dear Friend,

My name is Heather Ross, Assistant Station Manager, Tikrit-American Red Cross working here in iraq with the military.
With a desperate need for assistance, I have summed up courage to contact you. I am seeking your kind assistance to move
the sum of $4.8million (Four Million Eight hundred thousand United States Dollars) to you back home in the united states
as far as I can be assured that the money will be used for charity and humanitarian purposes as strictly requested by
the owner.

Source of money: The money belonged to Cpl. Dustin R. Brisky, 26, of Round Rock, Texas, died June 4 in Tallil, Iraq, of
wounds suffered from an explosion. He was assigned to the Army Reserve’s 952nd Engineer Company, Paris, Texas. The
unit was attached to the 92nd Engineer Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga. This
money was part of his share from the money they discovered in barrels at a farmhouse near one of Saddam's old palaces in
Tikrit, Iraq during a rescue operation. He was hoping to move the money out of Iraq to the united states before he died.
I was attending to him when he confided in me and told me about the money. His last wish was that I should help him make
arrangement to move the money out of Iraq and then contact you to receive it in the united states so that you can use it
to help the less priviledged and other charitable activities that will uplift and profit humanity and mankind.

With the help of a british contact working here, whose office enjoys immunity, I was able to get the package out of Iraq
to the United Kingdom where it is quite safe. Now the british contact does not know the real contents of the package.
She believes that they are personal valued properties of the late Dustin Brisky who trusted me to hand over the package
to his family in the united states before he died. Now I have just found a very secured way of delivering this package
to you in the united states without any problems. I will discuss this with you when I receive your response to this mail
assuring me of your willingness and capability to handle this safely and disburse the money as instructed by the late
Dustin Brisky.

Please I want you to keep this matter absolutely confidential as any leakage of this information will be too bad for
those of us serving in Iraq. I do not know how long we will still be here in Iraq, but whatever happens, I will be in
constant touch with you. Remain blessed as I await your urgent response to this mail. Please do send your response to my
safe email account: (heather625@excite.com)

Heather Ross.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam