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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:
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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)
  • "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
  • "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)
• 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.
  • ramanduka@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "ramanduka02 Gazeta.pl" <ramanduka02@gazeta.pl>
Reply-To: ramanduka@hotmail.fr
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2008 09:13:55 +0000
Subject: I NEED YOUR URGENT ASSISTANCE.


*Dear Friend,*

*I am Mr.Raman Duka from Burkina faso.I know that this mail will come to you
as a surprise as we have never met before, but need not to worry as I am
using the only secured and confidential medium available to seek for your
foreign assistance in a business. I am contacting you independently of my
investigation and no one is informed of this communication.*
**
*I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of $11.3million
immediately to your private account. The money has been here in our Bank
lying dormant for years now without anybody coming for the claim of it.*
**
**
*I want to release the money to you as the relative to our deceased
customer(the account owner) who died a long with her supposed NEXT OF KIN
since 31 January 2000. The Banking laws here does not allow such money to
stay more than 8 years,because the money will be recalled to the Bank
treasury as unclaimed fund.*
**
*Upon receipt of your reply,indicating your interest in this transaction,I
will send you full details on how the business will be executed.*

*Please keep this proposal as a top secret and delete if you are not
interested.*

** <ramanduka@yahoo.com>

*Regards,
RAMAN*

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam