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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "outstanding contractors" (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)
  • "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
  • "(ecowas)" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
  • "ecowas " (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 fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
  
  1. They don't notify winners by email.
  2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
  3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
  4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
  5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
  6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
  7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:17:09 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: URGENT READ AND REPLY NOW.


FROM THE DESK OF MR FRANKFORD HAJI
CHAIRMAN ECOWAS CONTRACT
AWARDING COMMITTEE ECOWAS
FUND HEADQUARTERS
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.=A0
=A0
=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0
=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=
=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 ACCOUNT PROVISION FOR USD17 MILLION.
=A0
=A0
I am MR FRANKFORD HAJI. The Chairman, Contract Awarding Committee of the EC=
ONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) with its fund Headquarters
in NIGERIA.I got your information from google when I was searching
through Internet for a reliable, honest and trustworthy person to
entrust this business with.I was simply inspired and motivated to pick
your contact from the many names in the list of the directory.After
discussing my view and your profile with my colleagues, they were very
much satisfied and decided to accept=A0 you immediately for this mutual
business relationship. We wish to transfer the sum of USD 17 (seventh
million United States Dollars only.)into your personal or company's bank ac=
count.
=A0
=A0
=A0 This fund was a residue of the over invoiced contract bills awarded by =
us intentionally for the supply of Nigeria( SHELL COMPANY )Oil pipes and ot=
her administrative/logistics for the ECOMOG in Sierra-Leone and Liberia
during the Peace Keeping Projects. This DEAL was deliberately hatched
out and carefully protected with the cooperation and mandate of the
Financial Director and the Secretary of the Organization. We arranged
and over invoiced the contract funds supplied by different companies
from different countries during the crisis.It was our consensus to seek
the assistance of a willing foreigner to provide us with the facilities
to transfer this money out of West Africa.This is borne out of our
belief in the non-stable and porous political nature of this sub-region.
=A0
=A0
=A0 The original contractors have been duly paid by ECOWAS banker through t=
he Union Bank of Nigeria and Finance Ministry.
The balance is suspended in the ECOWAS grand Account awaiting claims by
any foreign partner of our choice to receive the fund on our behalf Now
ECOWAS is intending to pay all their outstanding balance of their
contractors this year as the organization is winding up its activities
since the aim of returning PEACE to the countries and the coast has
been achieved. Based on the laws and ethics of employment, we as civil
servants working under this organization,are not allowed to operate/own
a foreign account. This is more reason why we needed your urgent assistance
to provide an account that can sustain this fund for safe keeping and
our future investment with your comprehensive advice, assistance and
partnership in your country.
=A0
=A0
=A0
=A0 It is however agreed,
as the account owner in this deal to allow you 65% of the entire sum as
compensation, 30% will be held on trust for us while 5% will be used to
defray any incidental charges and cost during the course of the
transaction. This transaction will be successfully concluded within 14
days if you accord us your unalloyed and due cooperation. You should
provide the followings for immediate kick of this deal if it interests
you; YOUR COMPANY`S NAME WITH COMPLETE ADDRESS, TEL AND FAX
NUMBERS.Upon the receipt of this information, application for claim
will be sent to you to fill and return back to the organization in
pursuit of the claim legally and then be forwarded to the organization
for ratification and subsequent payment.As with the case of all
organized (sensitive)and conspired DEALS, we solicit for your
unreserved confidentiality and utmost secret in this business.
=A0
=A0
=A0
=A0
We hope to retire peacefully and lead honorable business life
after-wards. There are no risks involved.Kindly expedite action if you
are interested as we are behind schedule to enable us utilize this
golden opportunity pay out this fund immediately which we might stand
to loose, if we fail to provide a safe account for this transfer on
time at the expiration of this year ECOWAS has mapped out for payment
of all their outstanding contractors and the dissolution of our
committee.Please urgency needed as we do not know the time our
organization will start the payment hence it is necessary to start on
time to forestall any hitch while transferring the fund into your
designated account.For more information's,contact the claims agent=A0 BY
DR ISONG CLEMENT=A0 on isong_clement@live.com.
=A0
Hoping to hear from you.
=A0
Best regards.
MR FRANKFORD HAJI=A0 =0A=0A________________________________________________=
__=0ADo You Yahoo!?=0ATired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protect=
ion around =0Ahttp://mail.yahoo.com

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam