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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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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:
  • "huge sum of money" (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)
  • "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
  • "a reliable and reputable person to handle this" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "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 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.
  • +447031910980 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • lilly_smith0001@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
  • 3blilly_smith0001@hotmail.com

Fraud email example:

From: "lilly_smith2001 Gazeta.pl" <lilly_smith2001@gazeta.pl>
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 19:47:58 +0100
Subject: GET BACK TO ME


Bills and Exchange
H F C Bank
London.
Tel:+447031910980

Hello Dear ,
First I must solicit your confidence in this transaction, this is by virtue
of it's nature as being utterly confidential and top secret. Though I know
that a transaction of this magnitude will make any one apprehensive and
worried, but I am assuring that this is real and genuine.

I am the director, bills and exchange at the foreign remittance department
of the Bank in London. I came to know you in my private search for a
reliable and reputable person to handle this Confidential Transaction,which
involves the transfer of a huge sum of money to a foreign account requiring
maximum confidence.

MY PROPOSITION; We discovered an abandoned sum of £14,320,000.00 (fourteen
million three hundred and twenty thousand British Pounds) in an account that
belongs to one of
our customers(DJ Amakusa) who died along with his wife and entire
family on 25th July, 2000, Air France Concorde flight 4590 plane crash.Since
his death, none of his next-of-kin or relations has come forward to lay
claims for this money as the
heir. We cannot release the fund from his account unless someone applies for
claim as the next-of-kin to the deceased as indicated in our banking
guidelines, unfortunately,no family member nor relative has ever appeared to
claim the said fund.

Upon this discovery, we now seek your permission to have you stand as next
of kin to the deceased so that the funds (Fourteen million three hundred and
twenty thousand British Pounds) can be released and paid into your account
as the beneficiary's next of kin otherwise the fund will be returned to
treasury as unclaimed funds. All documents to enable
you receive this funds will be carefully worked out. Please acknowledge
receipt of this
message in acceptance of our mutual business endeavour by furnishing me with
the following;

1. Your name and address

2. Direct Telephone and fax numbers

These requirements will enable us file letters of claim to the appropriate
departments for necessary approvals in your favour before the transfer can
be made. We have agreed that our ratio of sharing will be as stated thus; On
final conclusion of this project, 65% of this shall be for us, while 25%
shall be for you and the remaining 10% shall be used to compensate either
party for any expenses incurred. Your share 25% stays while,while our 65%
share shall be used for investment purposes in your country. For your
confirmations,you can visit this website for more info

Http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm

If this proposal is acceptable by you, do not take undue advantage of the
trust
we have bestowed in you, I await your urgent mail to my private E-mail
below;lilly_smith0001@hotmail.com <below%3Blilly_smith0001@hotmail.com>
Best Regards,
Miss Lilly Smith

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam