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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
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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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "million 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)
  • ",000,000" (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)
  • "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal - arrests of online criminals are rare)
  • "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
  • "chambers" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
  • "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.
• Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.

Fraud email example:

From: pp234me@freenet.de
Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2008 01:54:41 +0100
Subject: VERU URGENT


Barrister Patrick Pam {Patrick Pam
& Associates Solicitors Advocate
&
Notary Public of Nigeria}
No: 24 Alaba Ikoyi street
Lagos-Nigeria

Dear
Friend,
First I must solicit your confidence in this transaction and
wish to apologize to you if this mail might have wronged you in any
means, and before I continue I wish to introduce my self officially, my
name is Barrister Patrick Pam (ksj). A solicitor and the personal
attorney to late Engr. Mark, he was a big time contractor here with one
of the oil companies here in Nigeria, Herein-after referred to as my
client. please see this site for more information on the death of
late
Engr Mark, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4368516.stm
On the 22nd
October 2005. My client, and his family were involved in the Belview
Plane-crash, my client and his entire family unfortunately lost their
lives in the Plane-crash accident, which also claimed several lives
also.Since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy to locate
any of my client\'s extended relatives, which has proved abortive after
these several unsuccessful attempts then the need to contact you
emanated.
My main reason for contacting you is so that you may assist me
in repatriating the money and property left behind by my client before
they are confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where they
are deposited. The bank where the deceased has a fixed deposit account
with the total sum of $ 18,000,000 {Eighteen Million United States
Dollars.} The said bank has issued me a final notice to provide the next
of in to my client or they will be left with no other choice
than to
confiscate his funds and have them transferred into the reserved account
of the federal government of Nigeria for their private use.
Since then I
have been unsuccessful in locating my client\'s relatives for the past
two years now,So in this effect i seek your consent to present you as
the next of kin of my client, so that the said funds as stated above
i.e, the sum of Eighteen Million United States Dollars can be paid to
your account as the next of kin instead of leaving it for the bank and
the federal agencies. We can take part of it and leave the rest to
charity organizations if you so desire. I must let
you know that this
transaction is 100% risk free and safe, because I have all necessary and
legal documents that will be used to back-up whatever claim we are going
to make, all I require is your
honest cooperation to enable us see this
arrangement through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a
legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the
law.
I have decided to give you 40% out of the total sum while 55% will
be for me and my office and 5% had been mapped out to offset whatever
expenses that we may likely incur at the course of this transaction.
Kindly supply me with the following information at my personal email
address: pp234me01@cosmo.com for immediate processing of this
transaction.

*** YOUR FULL NAME
*** YOUR CONTACT ADDRESS
*** YOUR
DIRECT TEL/FAX NUMBER{S}
*** YOUR AGE AND OCCUPATION

I wait to hear
from you urgently,
Best regards,
Barrister Patrick Pam (ksj)
Equity and
Trust Chambers

Unbegrenzter Speicher, Top-Spamschutz, 120 SMS und
eigene E-MailDomain
inkl.
http://office.freenet.de/dienste/emailoffice/produktuebersicht/power/mail/index.html

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam