419 scam: "Mr. Andrew Burrows (Chief of Police)"<agent@kanairlines.com> Good News.

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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

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.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "economic and financial crimes commission" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "(efcc)" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
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: "Mr. Andrew Burrows (Chief of Police)" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lpolicecenter@one.co.il>
Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2011 21:32:59 +0300
Subject: Good News.

Metropolitan Police Service, UK
New Scotland Yard,
Broadway, London,
SW1H 0BG

Dear Sir/Madam,

We wish inform you that the Scotland Yard Police, Interpol, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria and all the world Crime fighter leaders have come together to stop internet fraud. We have recovered over £3.8 Billion from the people we have behind bars.

Our duties are to make sure we stop internet scam. As for today we have put a lot of fraudsters in jail. We go all over Africa to pick this fraudsters. We have over 8,273 of them in our custody round Africa and we are still looking for more. We are aware that a lot of foreigners out there have been deceived and lost their hard earn money to these fraudsters after promising them large sum of money in their letters for their impending help to move funds out of Africa including fake lottery winning notification and at the end of the day, they will collect thousands of dollars from their victims without a successful end.

You are one of the victims who lost money to these thieves and your share out of the £3.8 Billion that has been recover is £350,000.00, this we assume will help you to start a new life. Please, you have to accept the money like that because there are other victims in our pay list that are to receive same amount with you.

We are sending you this e-mail because your contact details were given to us by one of the fraudster. Since the Scotland Yard Police, Interpol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have stepped into this matter, be rest assured that you are safe as it is our duty to protect the rest of the world in general from the hands of the fraudsters.

TO FILE FOR YOUR CLAIM, PLEASE, FILL THE REQUIRED INFORMATION AS STATED BELOW AND SEND IT TO POLICE DEPARTMENT IN LONDON WHICH YOU WILL BE DIRECTED TO THE PAYING BANK FOR COLLECTION OF YOUR MONEY.

1. FULL NAME
2. ADDRESS
3. OCCUPATION
4. PHONE NUMBER

Metropolitan Police Service
202-206 Buckingham Palace Rd, Belgravia, London
lpolicecenter@one.co.il

We are aware that these fraudsters has broken a lot of home, made a lot of people to lose their job, sell their properties, closed their business, put many on the street, and made a lot to even lose their life. We are very sorry.

IMPORTANT: UNDER PENALTY OF LAW, THE INFORMATION YOU SUBMITTED TO THE POLICE DEPARTMENT CURRECTLY IDENTIFY YOU AS THE RECIPIENT OF THIS PAYMENT; NO OTHER LIVING PERSON OR ENTITY IS ENTITLED TO ANY PART OF THIS PAYMENT; IT IS A VIOLATION OF LAW FOR ANY PERSON TO INTENTIONALLY FILLING FOR DOUBLE CLAIMING OR AID ANOTHER PERSON IN CLAIMING THE SAID FUND, BY MEANS OF FRAUD OR DECEIT. BE WARNED.

Best Regards,

Mr. Andrew Burrows
Chief of Police,

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam